Second Glance
by FHGVZEhyde
Summary: It’s been eight years since the second Bang. Static and Gear are in Gotham hunting down a killer and the only other living Bang Baby is trying to keep his family out of the line of fire even as he's dragged straight into the heart of the blaze. Finished!
1. Chapter 1: Parallel Worlds

**Second Glance**

It's been eight years since the second Bang. Static and Gear are in Gotham hunting down a killer and the only other living Bang Baby is trying to keep his family out of the line of fire.

**Chapter One: Parallel Worlds**

The door to Apartment 6B opened and a sleepy-eyed man with mussed white blonde hair and wearing nothing more than a pair of low-slung green cotton pajama pants that displayed his well-sculpted body bent over to retrieve the morning paper. Looking over the headlines, the man shut the door and wandered back into his spacious apartment.

The man made his way eventually into the kitchen, lucky not to have tripped over anything as his eyes hadn't left the paper, and began making himself a bowl of cereal for breakfast. Laying the newspaper out on the counter so he could still read it, the blonde man, with a spoon in his mouth and a bowl, a carton of milk, and a box of cereal in his arms staggered over to the table.

A woman now entered, a robe open around her shoulders revealing a slim body and a mischievous grin on her face. She snuck up behind her beau and poked him on either side of his rib cage at the same time. The effects were instantaneous. The man jumped and jerked away, bowl, milk, and cereal clattering to the floor in a terrific mess.

"Jesus Theresa!" The man took the spoon from his mouth and gaped at his wife who was doubled over, trying to control her fits of laughter.

Finally gaining control of herself, Theresa straightened and smirked at her husband. "Didn't know you were so ticklish Francis."

Francis caught her by the wrists and smothered her laughs with his mouth. "How many times do I have to tell you not to tickle me?" He asked her, grinning despite himself.

"I wouldn't if you didn't act like you'd just been electrified every time I do." Theresa looked at the mess on the floor. "I don't suppose you'll be cleaning that up then."

Francis released her and walked back to the kitchen. "No way, not when you're the one who made me drop everything."

He picked up the paper again and brandished the front page at Theresa as she walked past him to get a towel. "_Fourth Murder Victim Found, Crime Spree Baffles Gotham PD," _she read the headline aloud and then shrugged. "So what?"

Francis flipped to the next page where the names of every victim had been listed. Again, Theresa read aloud, "Allie Langford, Frankie D'Amico, Tamara Lawrence, and Thomas Kim. So what?"

Francis gave her that smug little grin of his that told her he knew so much more than she did. Theresa shoved his shoulder. "I repeat, so what? And don't look at me like that."

"Allie Langford equals Nails, had a run-in with Harley and Ivy eight years back. Frankie D'Amico, wanted to run with my gang before the Bang and afterwards he stole gas to make himself a metahuman. Tamara Lawrence, girlfriend of Marcus Reed who was in Wade's gang and a big bad Bang Baby. Finally, Thomas Kim. Sophomore at Dakota Union during the Bang and a scary purple beast when he got pissed off."

"So all these people were metahumans?" Theresa took the paper from Francis and scanned the names again, putting faces to names as she remembered them. "How the hell did you remember all this?"

Francis walked out of the kitchen and began cleaning up his spilt breakfast. "I pay attention. None of those guys were in the main ring of metahumans so I'm betting the police haven't caught onto the pattern yet…"

"Wait, wait, wait! Pattern? You think more metahumans are going to be killed?"

Hearing the fright in Theresa's voice, Francis pulled his wife close to him. "No. The only metahumans left are Static, Gear, and me. I think more has been Bang Babies are going to bite it."

Theresa laughed into his shoulder. "That's real comforting _mi amore_, what do you think I am?" Francis pulled her even tighter against himself. "Anyone who touches you, I'll destroy."

"I believe that. Theresa stood on her toes and touched her lips softly against her husband's. Francis responded by tilting his head forward to meet her lips harder and all talk of murder and the past was forgotten for several loooong minutes.

* * *

Static and Gear landed on the edge of one of Gotham's tallest buildings, Wayne Towers, and quickly went inside the one open window. A tall man with carefully combed jet-black hair turned to the duo as they entered his office.

"Virgil, Richie. I'm glad you could come." Bruce Wayne rose form his chair and walked forward to greet the heroes.

"No problem Bruce. We were taking leave in Dakota for a few weeks anyway." Virgil Hawkins, aka Static, shook hands with his boyhood hero. Richie did the same, smiling up at the Dark Knight through his green visor. "What seems to be the problem?"

Bruce turned to his desk and came up with several folders in hand. "There have been a series of murders lately. No connection has yet been found between the victims and the crimes appear to be happening at random."

Virgil took the papers from Bruce and began browsing through them while Gear started asking questions.

"When was the last murder?"

"Two days ago."

"How do we know it's just one person doing all the killings?"

"Their style is unique, there are pictures in the files."

Virgil made a face. "There sure are pictures. This is gross." Virgil gave the folders to Richie who made a face of his own. "Yeah, definitely the same person."

The pictures showed the murder victims from an aerial view. Blood spattered the sidewalk all around the body and the corpses all had long jagged gashes through their chests, legs, and arms.

Bruce went to his chair and sank into it with a heavy sigh. Virgil and Richie exchanged a look, btoh thinking that despite the fact that Batman was a legend, he was getting old. "I'm being sent to Africa with John for several weeks and I was hoping you could hold down the fort here. You'd have full usage of the Cave and everything within it. I just want to make sure another murder isn't committed while I'm gone. If you could keep an eye on Arkham Asylum too, just to make sure everything is all right there."

"Sure we'll stay in Gotham to help you out Bruce." Virgil nodded with a cheerful grin.

"Hell, if we can make a dent in this case I think we should get our vacation days added onto." Gear grinned.

* * *

Francis pulled himself up from the floor and smiled down at Theresa. "That was fun," he grinned wolfishly at her.

Theresa smirked at him and rose to wrap her arms around his chest. "You have cereal in your hair," she whispered into his ear. He laughed and pulled away from her, swiping through his blonde locks with one hand.

"So do you," he retorted. Theresa lent forward and let Francis brush the crumbs from her red hair and the reached her own hand up to run through her husband's untamable hair. "I miss your red hair."

"Me too, but I'd be to recognizable with it."

"I miss your spikes."

"Sorry baby. Maybe one day they can come back." He leaned forward to kiss her neck.

Theresa let her head roll back and her eyes caught the clock. She bolted up to her feet in an instant, leaving Francis sitting on the floor.

"What is it," he asked, a pout forming on his lips.

"It's 9:00! Go wake Jesse up. I have to get ready for work. Shoot! I have a 9:30 meeting." She dashed towards their bedroom with a frantic look in her eyes.

Francis chuckled to himself. He had married a nutcase, but a gorgeous nutcase. He slowly cleaned up the mess on the floor and then walked into his bedroom, his breakfast long forgotten.

The shower was running and steam was drifting from the bathroom. Francis let himself linger in the heat for a moment before grabbing a black t-shirt and heading back out into the hallway.

He walked to the bedroom at the end of the hall and rapped on the door with his knuckles. "Jess, wake up." There was no response from the other side of the door.

Groaning, Francis pushed the door open and walked into the dimly room. A night-light shone in one corner and every other inch of the room was coated with posters displaying skateboarders, most of them sporting a familiar blonde haired man.

Francis ignored the mess on the floor, the scattered papers and clothes, books, a skateboard, toys, and headed straight for the lump amongst the covers.

Sitting down heavily on the side of the bed Francis reached out with one hand and shook the lump. "Jess, you have school."

The lump rolled over stubbornly.

Francis got up to stretch his back, when he was pounced upon from behind. A red haired cannonball had latched himself onto his back, and he was grinning widely down at his father.

Francis swung Jesse around and carried him under his arm out of the room, much to the boy's delight, and set him down in the hallway.

The little boy was wearing green pajamas that matched his jade colored eyes, the same as his father's and his hair was every bit as mussed as his dad's as well. If Francis hadn't dyed his hair, it would be the same blood red as his son's. The two could have been exact replicas of each other except for the fact that Jesse's skin color was slightly darker thanks to his mother.

"What do you want to wear today?" Francis asked, leaning against the doorway.

"My black pants, red shirt, and gray fleece!" Jesse exclaimed, whirling down the hallway towards the kitchen.

"Like you had any choice, your mom laid out your clothes last night." Francis muttered to himself and ducked back inside Jesse's room, emerging with the clothes in hand.

"Jess, c'mere so you can get dressed," he called down the hall. When he got no response except for a chair sliding across the floor, Francis headed back towards the kitchen with the clothes lsung over one braod shoulder.

Jesse was sitting at the table, his feet swinging several inches from the ground, happily eating cereal.

"Oh sure, he gets to eat cereal without incident. But do I? Nooooo." Francis put the clothes on the table and for the second time that morning went to fix his breakfast.

Raising the milk above his bowl, Francis hesitated and looked around for his wife to make sure she wouldn't sneak up on him again.

Jesse looked at him curiously, mouth full of cornflakes. Finally Francis deemed it safe to pour the milk.

In the instant where Francis lowered his head, Jesse poked his spoon in between his father's ribs and Francis jerked, milk spilling across the table and dripping to the floor.

Jesse burst into peals of laughter and Francis groaned. "Your mom taught you that…didn't she?"

* * *

Theresa came running through the kitchen, now dressed in a smart suit and makeup applied flawlessly. She stooped and kissed both Francis and Jesse on the forehead. "Jesse is going to miss the bus if you don't speed him up." She warned, grabbing her purse from the counter.

Francis shrugged and continued eating. "I've got a demo at noon across town so I have to leave soon anyway, I can just drive him on the way." Theresa nodded and started walking to the door when she slipped in the spilt milk. She grabbed the counter for support as her legs flew out from under her.

Francis smirked into his cereal and Jesse covered his grin with one small hand.

Theresa whirled around but decided not to pursue the matter upon seeing the satisfied look on her husband's handsome face. She stood back up and brushed herself off, trying to appear as dignified as she could with milk dripping from the hem of her skirt. "Please clean that up by the time I get home. And don't let Jesse be late, his teacher's threatening him with detention."

"His teacher's a bitch." Francis muttered.

"Don't swear in front of Jesse…and yes she is." Theresa blew both of her boys a kiss and then left the apartment.

Francis leaned back in his chair and yawned, stretching his arms above his head. "What are the odds that I can get you to school in half and hour?"

Jesse put down his spoon and grinned. "Pretty good if you start chasing me now."

**Author's Note:**

This chapter was just to see if anyone is at all interested in this story and if so then PLEASE LEAVE A REVIEW! Also let me know if I butchered Hotstreak's character too much, I didn't mean to but I make him into a lovable softie in my head. I promise the next chapter will have Static and Hotstreak meeting for the first time in eight years if I get four reviews.


	2. Chapter 2: Conclusions Met

Disclaimer: I do not own Static Shock, no matter how badly I want Hotstreak

**Chapter Two: Conclusions Met **

Francis was standing on top of a half pipe, watching as his buddy Danny pivoted in mid-air. Several guys standing around burst into cheers as he pulled off his backside 360, though landing sloppily.

"Frankie man! You gonna try for the Indy," Reuben called up to him from the floor.

Francis smirked as he buckled his helmet. He had been trying to nail a Nollie Heel Flip Indy 540 for the last three months and he had the bruises to prove it. His real forte was flips but pulling out flip after flip didn't consistently win medals…although they sure were crowd pleasers.

When he had first entered professional skateboarding, he had dubbed himself Frankie Stone, just in case anyone in Gotham had heard of Francis Stone.

Slowly, Francis pushed off with his right foot and propelled himself down the ramp.

Once he was satisfied with his speed and height, Francis leaned forward in preparation of his trick and all the guys watching him leaned forward as well. He went up in the air…and saw Theresa come bursting through the doors with a frantic look on her face.

Her entrance surprised him so much; Francis lost his grip on the board and fell down…hard. He hit his right shin on the edge of the ramp and then slid down the rest of the way on his kneepads. Danny slid down to help him up and Theresa waited for him at the side of the ramp with a horrified look on her face.

"Oh my god! Did I make you do that?"

Francis grinned wryly at her and limped over to a bench, his wife following close behind. She handed him a water bottle and he drank it eagerly, he was breathing heavily and his face was coated with sweat.

"What are you doing here? Weren't you supposed to be at work until three?" Francis checked his watch, it was one 'o clock.

Theresa looked nervously to where the other guys had begun skating again, took Francis by the elbow, and led him out into the hall.

"What is it," Francis asked, now genuinely worried by the expression on Theresa's face.

"Static and Gear are here…in Gotham."

"What! How do you know? Why are they here? Did they see you?"

"Whoa love, take a breath between words." Theresa smiled at Francis who was confused beyond all explanation and had donned the facial expression to match.

"No they didn't see me but I saw them. They were flying around on the east side of the river. I don't think they're here for any specific reason; they didn't seem particularly busy. I just came to tell you to be careful when you go out, all right?"

"Awright."

"And I also need you to pick up Jesse at three forty."

"But I drove him _to_ school. Why don't _you_ pick him up?"

Theresa frowned and checked her own watch. "Because I skipped out on a board meeting to come to see you and Mr. Travesta is going to keep me late to catch me up." She leant forward and kissed Francis' cheek. He grasped her shoulders and pulled her back down for a proper kiss on the lips.

Theresa pulled away and looked at Francis' shin. "You should ice that before it swells."

Francis looked own and saw his leg turning a lovely shade of blue. "All right, I will. Stop worrying."

Theresa smiled. "When you get home tonight, I'll kiss it better."

Francis smirked devilishly and Theresa didn't need to hear him say the words when she could so clearly read the dirty thoughts racing through her husband's mind just by the look on his face.

* * *

After flying leisurely around the city for a few hours, the two superheroes known as Gear and Static landed and changed back into their pedestrian clothes, becoming Richie and Virgil once more. They decided to check out the city from ground level for a change, and see if there were any pizza places around.

Chatting amiable between themselves, the two passed a school's playground in the midst of recess. A red kickball came flying over the fence and landed with a thump at the feet of Virgil, who picked it up.

A small red-haired boy came running over and he wove his fingers through the chain link fence, smiling at the two friends. "Can I have my ball back?"

Virgil grinned and tossed the ball back and the boy caught it, waving his thanks before running away.

Virgil continued walking but stopped again as he realized Richie wasn't at his side. "Rich? You comin' man?"

Richie was staring after the red-haired boy, his brow furrowed in a way Virgil knew to mean Richie was thinking deeply about something. "Didn't that kid seem familiar to you?"

Virgil frowned confusedly. "What, like we've met him before?"

"Yeah, he reminded me of someone."

"I don't think we've ever seen that kid before in our lives."

Richie looked around quickly and then pulled Virgil into an alley across the street from the playground. Backpack eagerly crawled out of the bag Richie was carrying and the genius smiled fondly at his favorite creation.

"Backpack, do you see that boy there?" Richie pointed out the kid as he was punting the ball to another child.

Backpack quickly scanned the photo and presented it on screen to Virgil and Richie.

"Good. Run a database check for any matches between that kid and someone we've met before. Give the results in percentages please."

It took Backpack a moment and Virgil watched fascinated as many pictures flashed across the screen in the time space of three seconds. He had seen Backpack run this procedure before but it always amazed him at the efficiency of the little robot.

"Data Match concluded. Results…" the electronic voice of Backpack announced.

The image of the boy popped up on screen and then became minimized as another older photograph took its place. Both Virgil's and Richie's mouths fell open.

"Hair color and style, 90.5 percent match. Eye color and shape, 92.3 percent match. Skin color, 56.7 percent match. Facial characteristics, 80 percent match. Body type, 82 percent match. Results concluded."

The two heroes stared at the picture of a seventeen-year-old Hotstreak, thinking that the boy they had just met could have been their old nemesis' twin.

Virgil turned in shock to his best friend. "No way…"

* * *

Francis hated driving around cities. When he went on tour one time, all the guys rode around on this one bus and by the end of the trip, Francis felt like he was suffocating. It may sound weird, but Francis had grown up in a city and he felt most comfortable amongst the jostling crowds, beeping horns, and steaming sewers. He even smiled as he walked down the sidewalk, skateboard under arm, and a woman loaded down with too many shopping bags bumped into him.

She didn't bother to say '_excuse me_' but Francis didn't mind. He was barely paying attention anyway, listening instead to his Ipod and bobbing his head lightly to the beat.

He rounded the corner and was met with the sight of hundreds of kids streaming out of Edison Elementary School. Not seeing his son's own mop of red, Francis maneuvered his way around the shouting children and parents and into the building.

Unlike cities, Francis _hated_ schools. They were number three on his list of places to avoid, numbers one and two being hospitals and jail. He avoided coming to Jesse's school on all occasions, he had never been to a Parent-Teacher conference and he hadn't gone to see any of Jesse's school plays…something Theresa was always complaining to him about.

Now though, he found the door to Room 108 open, and hearing his son's voice, Francis walked inside.

* * *

"Excuse me ma'am. I wondered if we might have a moment of your time?"

Mrs. Patterson turned from where she was tacking up crayon drawings and saw two men in costume standing in her doorway. She nodded and gestured for them to sit down.

"Mrs. Patterson, my name is Static and this is my partner Gear. We are members of the Justice League and are currently stationed in Dakota. We are in Gotham to help Batman out on a case but we met a boy today who is in your class. He has red hair and green eyes, what's his name and how much do you know about his family?"

"You mean Jesse Stone?"

Stone, the name had an immediate impact on the two heroes. Gear let Static continue asking question while he instructed Backpack to record the conversation.

Static grew much more intense, his eyes darkening at the mere mention of his rival. "Yes, that's the one. Have you ever met his father?"

Mrs. Patterson pushed one gray hair that had gotten loose from her bun and stared at Static. "No…wait…yes! Just once on the first day of school this year. He was dropping his son off with a woman that I know is Jesse's mother. You know I find it strange that his son would have such a strange color red for hair while his father has the whitest blonde hair I've ever seen…"

Static and Gear exchanged a look. The teacher was describing the kind of hair one got from bleaching their hair, maybe so they wouldn't be recognized in a new city.

Mrs. Patterson continued, "But their eyes are exactly the same, I suppose that's how I know that he is Jesse's biological father. You never know these days, he and that Hispanic wife of his couldn't keep their hands off each other in the few minutes I saw them together. People like that are always having affairs and sneaking around in dark alleys with other women."

Hispanic wife…it couldn't be.

"Do you know his mother's or father's name?" Static asked, leaning forward in anticipation.

"Why yes…I believe the mother's name is Theresa Stone and the father's is Frankie Stone. Did you know that that young hooligan is a professional skateboarder, my class adores him and whenever he drops off Jesse they all run to see him, never mind being late to class. His son is no better, always showing off at recess. I've had to talk to him more than once about going down the slide on your bottom, the way you were meant to go down!"

Static cleared his throat to stop Mrs. Patterson before she got into an even longer dialogue. "When is your class due back? I would like to speak with Jesse myself."

Mrs. Patterson looked at the clock above the door. "They were in music and should be back any minute now. After that they just grab their coats and line up for the bell to ring so I suppose you can talk to him after class."

Static nodded and Gear smiled, speaking for the first time. "Thanks you for your cooperation. We'll just wait outside until the bell."

Static and Gear watched as the children all filed back into the classroom and then they waited five minutes more before the bell rang.

Finally it did and kids began pouring out of classrooms, talking loudly to each other. Not wasting time, Static and Gear re-entered room 108 and saw Jesse standing in front of Mrs. Patterson's desk, face set into a deep frown.

"But Mrs. Pattersooooon. I'm gonna be late. Why do I have to stay after?" Mrs. Patterson nodded behind Jesse to the two super heroes and Jesse turned also, eyes widening with shock and awe.

"Oh awesome! You're Static aren't you? And Gear? What are you doing here?"

Static smiled, the kid even sounded like Hotstreak. "We just want to ask you a few questions. Have a seat Jesse."

"Ok. About what?"

Before Gear could reply, they were interrupted by a very familiar man walking through the door.

* * *

Francis stopped short, one foot still in the air and his eyes wide, face frozen into a mask of disbelief. "_Shit_."

"Dad! What are you doing here? Mom usually picks me up." Jesse sprang up, obviously delighted to see his father…the other three occupants of the room decidedly less jubilant.

Mrs. Patterson narrowed her eyes at Francis and went back to her papers. Both Static and Gear immediately jumped up, looks of anger on their faces.

Jesse was clinging to his father's leg when he noticed the look Francis had across his face.

"Dad, what's wrong?"

"What's wrong is that your dad is a convicted criminal who we've been trying to find for over eight years!" Static was the first to speak although Gear was not far behind.

"A criminal who endangered countless lives, caused nearly a million dollars in property damage, and evaded the law on numerous occasions!"

Mrs. Patterson looked up now, fully enthralled by the revelation. "You mean he's a criminal?"

"Yes ma'am."

"I knew it! I knew he was no good the moment I saw him!"

Francis took Jesse by the jacket and moved the little boy behind him protectively so that Jesse was almost outside the door. "That was eight years ago Static. I haven't used my powers and I haven't broken the law since."

"Powers?" Jesse looked up at his dad.

Francis sighed but once again Static beat everyone to the punch. "He's a metahuman, the only one besides us still alive. His name is really Francis Stone but most people know him better as Hotstreak." The words were snarled with such venom that Jesse hid completely behind his father, afraid of his one-time hero.

Francis grimaced and placed one hand comfortingly on Jesse's shoulder. "Don't call me that. Please Static, I've been trying to be good…I have been good."

"I don't care about right now, you still have to pay for your crimes…"

"Crimes that I committed when I was _seventeen fucking years old_!"

"Dad?" Jesse's voice quivered.

Francis sighed again. "I'm sorry Static, but I'm not letting you just haul me off to prison. I'm not going to fight you either."

Gear pulled a zapcap from his belt. "Then what are you going to do?"

Francis took hold of Jesse with one hand and propelled him of the door. Static rushed to grab Francis but the pyro pulled free of his grip and jumped out into the hall, slamming the door shut behind him. Static reached for the knob only to find that it had been welded shut from the outside.

Before Static and Gear got the door open, father and son were both outside the school and sprinting side by side down the sidewalk.

* * *

"And that's about all that you missed. Heading home now?" Mr. Travesta asked, packing up his briefcase.

Theresa glanced at her watch and nodded. "Yep, Frankie should be getting home right about now with Jess. I'm really looking forward to a quiet evening at home."

Mr. Travesta smiled and held the door open for his colleague. "Quiet nice, but personally I can't wait to crack open that new action movie I just bought. It's about this criminal who takes his family on a cross city chase with police around every corner!"

Theresa just laughed, incredulous that anyone could find such mindless action entertaining.

**Author's Note:**

I told you last chapter but I want to apologize again if I make Hotstreak to out of character. I'm really trying to get him right but he's a hard person to write. Especially when it's eight past the time we last saw him and he could have changed so much in that time, I mean, the guy's got a son.

I don't know if this qualifies as a cliffhanger but if it does, four reviews and you get the next chapter. So…PLEASE REVIEW!


	3. Chapter 3: Hiding

Disclaimer: I do not own Hotstreak

**Chapter Three: Hiding**

Theresa hummed to herself happily, turning the key in the slot of her apartment, cop movie under her arm, and opened the door. She stopped dead, taking in the scene of complete chaos before adopting her most murderous look.

"WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU TWO DOING! I JUST CLEANED THIS PLACE YESTERDAY AND YOU'VE COMPLETELY DESTROYED IT!!!!!!"

Francis poked his head out his bedroom with a worried look and examined the upturned furniture and opened drawers. "I did something stupid."

Theresa sighed at Francis and then at Jesse as he came skidding down the hallway with a backpack slung over one shoulder. "What did you do?"

"Static saw me."

Theresa sank heavily into the one upright chair. "You're kidding me. I _told_ you to be careful. What did you do, blow up downtown?"

Francis scowled at her and came into full sight with two packed bags in hand. One he handed to Theresa, who noted that it was filled with some of her clothes and various other things. "No, I didn't blow up downtown. I was just picking Jesse up from school like _you told_ me to…and Static and Gear were there asking questions."

"Do they know where we live?" Theresa looked around at their apartment forlornly. Growing up, she had lived in a slum of a neighborhood in a slum of an apartment. She knew Francis hadn't had it any better and she didn't want to leave a place she actually enjoyed coming home to every day.

"Yeah. Mrs. Patterson made it known that I was a no good hoodlum skateboarder. Static maybe won't make the connection but Gear is a genius. I'm sure he can figure out Frankie Stone from Francis Stone."

Theresa stood and went into her bedroom, taking her phone and wallet from her purse and zipping it into the backpack.

Minutes later, she appeared again dressed in a sweatshirt and jeans. "So where do we go now?"

Francis gave her a reassuring smile. "I thought we could talk to Danny and see if he knows anywhere we could stay for a few months."

"Can he be trusted? I mean, he wouldn't turn you into Static?" Theresa asked, helping Jesse into his coat.

Francis turned in the doorway and waited for Jesse to walk past him before answering his wife. "I trust Danny more than anybody in this city. After how I helped him last year, he wouldn't dare do anything to screw me over."

* * *

"Hotstreak and Talon…here…in Gotham. How did no one notice? And they bred…they have a KID! " Static paced back and forth in Bruce Wayne's office, randomly throwing his arms in the air to emphasize a point. 

Gear was sitting calmly in Bruce's enormous squashy black chair, resting his head on his folded hands and regarding Static with an amused grin.

Static stopped and turned to Gear. "Are you smiling? How are you smiling? Our greatest enemy is here in Gotham where he has been hiding under our noses for over eight years. He terrorized Dakota or did you forget?"

"I rarely forget anything V, and if I recall correctly, we beat him up and threw him and jail just as many times as he terrorized anyone."

"And then he broke out of jail again. That's a _crime_, Gear. Don't we usually put a stop to crime? Isn't that our job?"

Gear leant back in the chair and gazed at the ceiling. "You're freaking out for no reason. We'll find Hotstreak…we haven't actually seen Talon yet though. We can't just assume that every Theresa is going to be our Theresa. And about his kid, you saw him today, that was one cute kid.

"The spawn of Hotstreak," Static snarled and resumed his pacing.

Gear threw his head back and laughed. Once again Static stopped pacing and threw his friend a skeptical look. "What?"

"You're talking about a six-year-old like he's the devil reincarnate." Gear took off his visor and wiped a tear from his cheek.

Static frowned and ripped his own mask off, not to rub away tears, but the tiredness that was plaguing both him and his partner. "Haven't you ever seen The Omen?"

Gear frowned seriously. "We came to Gotham to find a murderer. Let's focus on that for right now and then we can work on Hotstreak later. He isn't going to leave Gotham or any of the surrounding cities with a young son and he sure isn't going to leave Jesse here."

"How do you know?"

Gear shook his head as though it was obvious. "You have eyes don't you? Hotstreak clearly loves his son. I'd say one of the few people in this world he actually does care about…I'm saying let's focus on the murderer for a while and let Hotstreak explain things to his son. I think we can allow him that much."

Static nodded his head reluctantly. "You're right. We've got bigger things to worry about." He took one of the victim files from Bruce's desk and flipped to the picture.

A young woman was lying on the pavement, her eyes were staring straight up and her blood was spattered across the concrete. Her arms and torso were slashed and there was a single slice running from her ear to her chin.

Static looked up again at Gear who observing the file of an Asian man. "How're we going to catch this guy?"

* * *

Francis, Theresa, and Jesse walked up to a skyscraper apartment building in downtown Gotham. The doorman stopped the trio but allowed Francis to make a call up to Danny who owned the penthouse on the top floor. 

"Danny? It's Frankie. Yeah your doorman won't let me in, buzz us up huh?"

The doorman was still looking suspiciously at Francis as Theresa placed one hand protectively on Jesse's shoulder. The man was so large it looked as if he could pick up her son and snap him in half if he wanted to.

Luckily, the hulking doorman didn't get the chance as Danny buzzed down quickly and he had to permit the Stone family, however grudgingly, into the building.

Danny greeted them after they got off of the elevator and smiled widely upon seeing the whole family. He shook hands with Francis and knelt down to ruffle Jesse's hair. "Little Stone, practicing that kickflip I was teaching you?"

Jesse nodded eagerly and grinned at his father's best friend before running off deeper into the apartment and finding the plasma screen TV.

Danny turned back to Francis. "So what's up man? And what's with the bags? Apartment being fumigated or something 'cause you can crash here if you want." Danny led the couple into another room and invited them to sit down.

Francis sank into the couch gratefully and Theresa planted herself down next to her husband, taking his arm and wrapping it around her shoulders. "I wish our apartment was being fumigated." She muttered.

Danny frowned confusedly.

Francis sighed, wishing he didn't have to explain all of this. "Danny, you're my best friend. You know that right?" Danny nodded slowly.

"Then you should know that my name isn't really Frankie. It's Francis, only my mom ever called me Frankie. I have several other names too, some of which I've tried to keep secret for a long time but now…well…now I can't and I need your help."

Danny leaned forward with his hands clasped in front of him. "Not Frankie, what were the other names? Is that why you're here," Danny glanced again at the backpacks that Francis and Theresa had left at the door, "and why you have bags?"

Francis frowned but continued anyway, knowing that one way or another; Danny would hear the whole story. "I used to live in Dakota, so did Theresa. In high school I became the leader of one of Dakota's gangs and I was known by everyone as F-Stop, mostly because anyone who called me Francis only got as far as the F. After the Bang…I assume you've heard of the Big Bang?"

Danny nodded, enthralled by the story. Theresa was leaning her head against Francis' shoulder, listening as her husband revealed their pasts.

"Okay, well…I was there. I was exposed to the meta-gas and became a Bang Baby. After that I was known as Hotstreak."

"Wait, wait, wait. _The_ Hotstreak? The one who could control fire and went on frequent rampages because he felt like it? The same Hotstreak who teamed up with the Joker, faced off with Batman, and supposedly died after the second Bang?" Danny asked, his face flushed with excitement.

Francis' face was as red as his hair used to be. "One and the same Danny."

"Awesome." Danny leant back with a wild grin on his face.

Theresa straightened and stretched her arms, stifling a yawn. "You sure know you're metahumans Danny. How'd you know so much about Francis?"

"I was fascinated by them when I was in college, this is before I started skating professionally, and I did a case study on a few. One was Hotstreak…er…you because of your temperament. Also you had an elemental power which a lot of people thought made you stronger than the average metahuman."

Theresa grinned toothily. "No metahuman is average. I should know. I used to be Talon."

Danny's grin just widened even farther. "This is incredible. Do you still have your powers? Everyone thought you died after that whole ship thing with the gas and that Ebon guy."

Francis leant forward and casually let his hand become engulfed in fire. He held the flames up for Danny to see.

"Awesome," Danny whispered again in awe.

Francis vanished the fire and continued speaking. "Yeah well I didn't die. I got cut up pretty badly by debris and almost drowned but I made it to shore and found Theresa who wasn't too far away. She had already lost her powers though and I hid out at her place until I was better."

Theresa nestled into her husband and subconsciously rubbed his side where she knew there was a scar from that night.

Francis grinned sideways at her and continued. "Anyway, after that we came here to Gotham to get away from Dakota. We got married when I was nineteen and Theresa was twenty and then nine months later Jesse was born."

Danny shook his head, still with that ridiculous grin plastered across his face. "Didn't waste anytime huh Frankie?"

Francis smirked and Theresa punched him lightly on the arm. She turned to Danny and continued where Francis had left off. "We've been hiding here for eight years and it's been great. We both earned good money and made some good friends. We're lucky enough to count you among those friends," Danny flushed in embarrassment, "but now Static and Gear have come to Gotham and found about Francis and we need someplace to stay for a while until we can figure out a long-term plan."

"You can stay here if you want." Danny gestured at his empty guestroom.

Francis shook his head. "Static and Gear know I'm a skateboarder and will probably start contacting other skaters I hung out with."

Danny frowned and ran a hand over his face thoughtfully. "Hey, you know what? I do know someplace. It's not even that far away from here but there would be nothing connecting you to it. You could rent it out for a few months."

Francis looked at Theresa and they held one of their famous silent conversations while Danny waited patiently for their answer. The sounds of an Xbox 360 starting in the next room alerted the three that Jesse had finally grown tired of watching cartoons.

Finally, Francis turned back to Danny and nodded with a grin. "Lead us there man."

* * *

_BEEP! BEEP! BEEP!_

Virgil jumped up sleepily, grabbing his shock vox and stumbling into his costume. Gear was already dressed and waiting and without hesitation, they threw themselves out of the window and into the night.

Static whipped out his disc and Gear powered up his rockets. "What is it Rich? A robbery?"

"No. Another murder. I wish we could catch this guy but no one ever finds the body until like, two hours after it happens."

Static checked his watch. It was three thirty. "Well who's looking for a corpse at three in the morning anyway?"

Instead of using Backpack's navigations, all the heroes had to do was follow the red and blue flashing police lights and they found the crime scene quickly enough.

They touched down and Static folded his disc back up inside his cape. A police officer hurried up to them with a brief explanation, officers in Gotham had been given an explanation on Static and Gear's involvement and were eager to help.

Brushing past the yellow tape, Gear ordered Backpack to take pictures while he and Static circled the body. Suddenly Static stopped, his face frozen in disbelief.

"What's up V? You okay and if not…it's all right. I feel like hurling too."

Static shook his head dumbly. "No, it's just, I know who this is."

"WHAT!?" Gear exclaimed with wide eyes. Several police officers pulled out notepads to scribble on as Static knelt near the body.

"This is Permafrost. Maureen Conner." Static stood as realization hit him. "Quick! Bring up the names of the other victims!"

Gear squatted down near Backpack and pulled up the names. Static looked on over his partner's shoulder. Names that had meant nothing to them only hours ago now formed a pattern. "Thomas Kim…Tantrum. Frankie D'Amico…he stole Bang gas. Tamara Lawrence…dates Marcus Reed. Allie Langford…Nails." Static read off the names and added their aliases as he did so.

"They were all Bang Babies." Gear stated as he and Static exchanged worried looks.

**Author's Note:**

There you go. Let me know if you liked it by REVIWING PLEASE! Static and Hotstreak will be meeting again soon, don't worry about that. And there will be plenty more murders to come also. Just look at how sweet Francis can be when he chooses to, he's awesome!


	4. Chapter 4: Darkness Engulfs

Disclaimer: I don't own Static Shock, maybe just the plot for this story if anything

**Chapter Four: Darkness Engulfs**

_Hotstreak crashed into the water headfirst. Resisting the urge to gasp in a much-needed breath of air, he let himself linger in the silence, a blissful smile crossing his lips. He had his powers back, he could feel the flames within him begging for fiery release but he had to wait until he was dry again._

_Hotstreak's grin grew wider, better still, Ebon was nowhere in sight. After the two had merged, a thoroughly uncomfortable experience in itself, Hotstreak had been disoriented and Ebon had pushed into his mind. Hotstreak had floated in a mist of darkness, much like the water around him now, and all he could do was watch Ebon use his powers against Static and Gear._

_And now they had separated for some unknown reason. Hotstreak was not sorry._

_Above the water, the ship trembled ominously, fire poured from every window and there was an enormous cloud of smoke hovering just overhead, casting everything into a haze._

_Hotstreak's lungs ached for air and he reluctantly pushed for the surface, thinking that Static would be there waiting to arrest him. What was there was worse, much worse._

_The ship exploded._

_Hotstreak had no time to react and dozens of pieces of razor sharp debris cut into the water around the helpless pyro. One piece slit his shoulder and Hotstreak winced, another embedded itself in his side._

_Hotstreak gasped and reached to pull the metal out, his hand came away smudged with the dark tint of blood, the water around him clouded with blood also. _

_Feeling lightheaded, Hotstreak tried to swim with his good arm back to shore; the coldness of the water and the ache in his side had numbed him._

_Suddenly, a dark stain in the water caught Hotstreak's eye. Had the ship been carrying oil and now it was leaking into Dakota Bay? No, the stain slithered towards him fast and Hotstreak jerked backwards as it rose out of the water and engulfed him. _

_It was Ebon! Ebon had wrapped his shadows around Hotstreak's wrists and was dragging him down into the water. Hotstreak tried to kick out and escape but Ebon was quicker and locked Hotstreak's ankles in his shadowy grip as well._

_Ebon's purple eyes glowed menacingly as he dragged Hotstreak lower._

_Hotstreak's ears popped painfully before Ebon stopped his descent…and whirled around to sink his fist into Hotstreak's cheek. The pyro's head exploded into pain but Ebon reeled back with his fist again and hit Hotstreak across the nose. Again and again Ebon punched him, cutting his cheek and splitting his lip. _

_Apparently the Breed leader wanted to finish the fight that he and Hotstreak had started on the ship. Ebon had an unfair advantage, his powers worked in water and his appeared to be uninjured._

_But even shadow masters need to breathe so, satisfied with his work Ebon released Hotstreak and darted for the surface. _

_Hotstreak stayed in the water, his bad arm floating uselessly in the water and his side preventing him from moving. All he could see was the dark water above him, tainted with his own blood._

_He wanted to breathe but couldn't make him limbs move. His lungs screamed for air. All he could see was the darkness clouding his eyes._

Francis sat up in bed, gasping for breath. Sweat dripped from his brow and he realized with some disgust that he was shaking.

He got up from bed as careful as he could, he didn't want to disturb Theresa, and left the bedroom. Francis wandered to the living room and collapsed onto the couch, still taking in ragged breaths.

He had thought the nightmares would stop. He never told Theresa about them, he was ashamed of his own ineptitude that night at the docks.

He had been on the verge of drowning before he had come to his senses and finally struggled back to the surface. The walk to Theresa's had been excruciating, she had found him clinging to her doorpost, his shirt and pants soaked through with blood and bruises marking his pale skin.

Francis shuddered at the memory.

He tried instead to remember happier things, like the news of Ebon's death.

Despite the fact that the second Big Bang had occurred in an isolated spot and only Static, Gear, Ebon, and himself had been re-contaminated, Ebon had broken into Alva Industries on his own in an attempt to steal more gas.

Guards had shot on sight. Ebon may have been able to transport himself anywhere instantly, but even he was unable to dodge speeding bullets. They cut through his shadowy frame and he was unable to recuperate, leaving him writhing on the floor. He died later that night at Dakota General.

It was the next day that Francis and Theresa decided to move to Gotham.

Francis went out to the balcony and leaned against the railing. The wind blew gently across his bare chest and he smiled, remembering the times when Theresa would fly to his apartment in the dead of night. A pair of familiar arms wrapped around his middle and Theresa rested her head against his shoulder.

"Come back to bed _mi amore."_

Francis stiffened reflexively and then slowly let himself relax into his wife's embrace. Too many years of being hit and instantaneously hitting back had made it difficult for him to adapt to the touchy-feely way Theresa lived.

Francis nodded and pulled Theresa to his front and hugged her fiercely. He wasn't naïve enough to think he would still be standing here if it weren't for her.

She had saved his life.

* * *

Theresa watched the small of his back move up and down rhythmically with each breath. Reaching out, she gently traced a muscle in his back and tried not to frown when he flinched in his sleep. Speaking of sleep, it surprised Theresa that he had fallen back into a deep slumber within moments of her coaxing him back into bed. Usually he fidgeted all night after one his nightmares.

She sighed and pressed her hand against his shoulder blade. She wished he would tell her what plagued his dreams, but Francis would _never_ allow himself to do that. It had taken almost a year for him to admit he loved her, and even then it had sounded painful for him to say.

Theresa never liked to think about what had made Francis this way, but she knew his past had not been sugarcoated. Her own life had been full of misery and poverty, but according to her older brother, Carlos who had died in the first Bang, Francis' own past was beyond comparison. No Banger ever talked about it. It was a subject treated as a taboo, punishable by Francis' rage, which was formidable enough.

Theresa felt her lips twitch into a soft smile. She remembered when Jesse had been born. Francis had been terrified of that little baby, never making a sound, getting her whatever she needed for their son, but he didn't hold Jesse until he was three months old…and that had only been with Theresa's incessant nagging.

_"Francis, come here." Francis poked his head into the room and smiled at his wife._

"_Yeah babe?"_

"_Hold your son." Theresa extended Jesse to him. Francis backed up, the smile flying from his face._

"_N-no. That's okay. I…err…I shouldn't." He mumbled and attempted to leave._

_Theresa was on her feet and stalking towards him before he could exit the room. "No Francis. Hold out your arms, I promise it's not that hard." She held Jesse in the crook of one arm and manipulated Francis' arms into the proper position._

_Finally, Theresa put Jesse into his father's arms and stepped back smiling. _

_Francis looked extremely uncomfortable. "Okay, take him back now." _

_Theresa frowned. "No. You've got him and look how happy he is." Jesse gurgles his agreement and waved one pudgy arm in the air. Francis grinned and adjusted his arms carefully._

"_What if I drop him?"_

_Theresa shook her head in exasperation. "You've caught me falling from twenty feet in the air and I didn't get a bruise. I think our son is in safe hands."_

Theresa wrapped her arms around her husband's waist and hugged him. To her surprise he actually nestled closer to her in his sleep. She tucked her head into his shoulder and fell asleep with a smile still on her lips.

* * *

Virgil hadn't slept in days. Richie took naps at random hours of the day and now, at three in the morning, Richie was dozing half on and half off the couch with Backpack running dozens of tests at his feet.

Virgil looked around at the impressive décor of a Wayne Towers penthouse, given to the super hero duo for their exclusive usage while Bruce was away. Now swathed in darkness and shadow, the room was intimidating and Virgil wandered out onto the balcony and gazed down at the city past the outcropping gargoyles.

Even at this ungodly hour Gotham was thriving. Lights from cars and businesses, probably of the illegal nature, illuminated the streets and drove away the shadows.

Virgil grinned as the night breeze played across his cheeks, glad for once that his mask was gone. He was tired of course, they both were. They had been running DNA tests on hundreds of suspects and had been patrolling the city at all hours of the day but nothing had turned up on their mysterious killer.

Virgil really wasn't too worried. That may sound callous, but killers who were this grotesque in their work found their way into the law's hands one way or another. It just depended on how clever this particular murderer was, and how long they could keep themselves hidden.

What was really bothering Virgil was the return of Hotstreak. Guilt plagued him, not about what he had said to his archrival, but that he had blurted it out in front of his kid. It wasn't protocol and Virgil should never have let himself slip so deep into his emotions like that. It was mistakes like that which led to stupid decisions in the field.

It was just seeing Hotstreak again had made all his past feelings rise up and erupt. The fear when he faced the bully before the Bang, the rage when he had beaten him up for no reason, the offhandedness they treated each other when they fought. It was a childish rivalry but one that had never been resolved.

Virgil frowned, now remembering how Hotstreak and Wade's childhood rivalry had dramatically escalated through the years.

_Virgil was sitting on a low stone wall, comic book in hand and Richie at his side, offering his nine-year-old insight. "You see V, Gorlak was trying to shoot the captain and then Varveena shot him back before Tolar could die!"_

"_Who's Varveena again?" Virgil flipped the comic book so it was upside down and tried to comprehend the complex pages._

_Richie sighed. 'Maybe you just weren't meant for __Galactic Intervention__ V."_

_They both looked up to hear cheering, the eleven-year-olds were on the basketball court and it looked like Francis Stone had won another game of Horse. The red-haired boy took a bow and his friend Jake clapped for him, laughing and exchanging dollar bills with a heavy set boy named Wade._

"_Toldya he could make that shot!" Jake exclaimed and ran up to Francis, taking the ball from him and dribbling up to the basket for a lay-up._

_Francis grinned at Wade and shrugged. "And __**I **__told you not to bet against me. Bad way to lose ten bucks."_

_Wade stood, he towered over Francis who was short for his age. "Are you mocking me? You could never make that shot again in a million years!"_

_Francis frowned. "Course I could. I could do it right now and you'd owe me another ten."_

_Wade shoved Francis hard and the boy teetered backwards on his heels but didn't fall over._

_All the boys stopped their games; Virgil and Richie were watching the exchange nervously. One of the younger kids ran inside hollering for a teacher._

_Francis swiped a lock of red hair from his face and shoved Wade back. Wade smirked, as if he had been waiting for an excuse to fight…and Francis had given it to him. Francis reeled back at the first punch and then he was springing back up, diving low and driving Wade to the ground with tackle._

_Virgil stood on the wall and tried to see the fight over the ring of kids surrounding them. There was a loud crack and several boys 'ooohed' appreciatively. _

_Two teachers ran from the school and dove into the fray, pulling the boys apart. When the dust had cleared, Wade was nursing a broken nose, which had been the crack, and Francis' shirt was torn and he had a black eye and split lip._

The littler boy had really been no match for Wade but from that day on the two were constantly at each other's throats. Then Francis had hit his growth spurt and Wade no longer loomed over him. Their fights were no longer fought with fists, but with guns and knives. It was actually their feud which had inevitably led to the Big Bang…a fact that Virgil still resented. Life would have been different sure, but so much simpler.

He was older now, and he hoped wiser, he knew now that he didn't want him and Hotstreak to become like Francis and Wade. That was why he accepted Gear's idea of letting Hotstreak cool off for a few days. Virgil knew he needed to cool off as well, instead he had jumped straight into endless hours of work to clear his mind.

Without thinking, Virgil let his thought stray back to the last night he had seen Hotstreak before last week. It was at the second Bang, which had been a very confusing night for Static.

First Hotstreak led Ebon to the gas, then he stole the gas back from Ebon, then fused with Ebon into some superfreak metamonster straight out of Galactic Intervention.

Virgil slipped back into the past, unaware that the same memory was haunting his own archrival on the other side of the city.

* * *

He was little more than a shadow on the wall, albeit a very large shadow. He moved swiftly and with purpose through the dark alleys of Gotham.

Finally he reached his destination. It might once have been considered a nice apartment building, but the paint had long since faded from its walls and trash was strewn about the steps.

Forgoing the entrance entirely, he chose to enter the building via the fire escape. His hulking mass made the rusted metal protest but it held and no one stirred within the apartments.

He climbed until he reached the second highest apartment, and then he took a small key from his pocket and made quick work of the window latch.

Crawling into the apartment, his nose crinkled at the smell. Garbage and dirty dishes littered the kitchen. He made his way silently to the bedroom and poked his head experimentally into the room.

His victim was sleeping, a bottle of whiskey empty on the nightstand. The man smiled sinisterly and crept into the room.

In one quick movement, he had the man in a stranglehold and one massive hand across his mouth.

His victim thrashed in alarm and shock, reached for the nightstand. The man beat him there and removed a gun from the drawer. He let the cartridge hit the ground and then dragged the frightened man into the main room.

After that, he finished the deed quickly. Slicing open the man before him in a systematic way, he grinned in a satisfied manner. Then taking the writhing body, he dumped it out the window so the police would find his mangled body in the street below.

He shut the window, went to the sink to wash his hands, and the left the apartment building through the main entrance without a sign from either cop or superhero.

**Author's Note:**

Any guesses on who was killed? It is a metahuman. Any guesses on the killer? Let me know in a REVIEW!


	5. Chapter 5: Heat Rising

Disclaimer: I own hardly anything, not even this computer that I type on.

**Chapter Five: Heat Rising**

The Gotham City morgue was not accustomed to being visted by celebrities. Once the mayor had to come in to identify an estranged nephew who had been murdered, but that was back in the dark times before Batman. Now the morgue saw mostly elderly people who died from natural causes or the occasional car accident victim. Never had the morgue hosted a super hero, not even Batman, and certainly not two at the same time.

Static and Gear were led through the eerily sterile halls of the morgue to a room where a sheet-covered body lay on a steel gurney. The doctor leading them, a middle-aged and balding man with horn-rimmed glasses, held the door open for them and followed behind the two into the room.

Static exchanged glances with Gear but held his tongue. The last thing he wanted was for his smart-mouth to insult the man who would be explaining the sustained injuries to them, however, their super hero duo worked so well because of their ability to bounce ideas off of one another. The doctor, apprently, had other ideas and sat down in a rolly chair with a clipboard, looking quite content to stay as he was.

Gear shrugged at Static and then walked up to the body, instructing Backpack to record the conversation. "How did the man die?"

The doctor looked up. "He was murdered undoubtedly and he died from bleeding out due to multiple lacerations on his chest, arms, face, and legs." The doctor stood, crossed the room in a few purposeful strides, and whipped back the sheet covering the corpse.

Static's face morphed from carefully indifferent to absolute shock. "My God."

Gear turned an unhealthy shade of white and turned away for just a moment to compose himself. No matter how many bodies they saw in their line of work, the sight of a particularly mutilated victim never ceased to stun the duo.

The man was complately unrecognizable. Blood was smeared across his face and deep cuts marred the rest of his naked body, slashes across his pale stomach stood out most prominetly.

"Backpack bring up accounts of all known Caucasian male meta-humans with red hair and blood type AB," Gear commanded his invention.

Static and Gear circled the body, taking in all the blood and cuts...and also the lack of bruises. There apparently hadn't been too much of a struggle, which told Static and Gear that their mysterious killer must be a very strong person who was talented with knives. The body was cut in all the right places so that the victim would have bled out slowly but surely, most major arteries were severed.

"Computations complete," Backpack announced. "Results, one hundred pecent match with meta-human Johnny 'Replay' Morrow."

Static looked at the body and instantly knew that Backpack was right, as it usually was. Searching back in his mind, the skinny body, oddly gelled hair, and pointed face belonged to the former child star Johnny Morrow.

"Is there any family to contact?" Static asked heavily, still looking at the body.

Gear shook his head as he examined Backpack's screen, which was now displaying all recorded information about Morrow. "No, he's been broke and alone for a long time. Since before the Bang even."

Static nodded and looked at the doctor who had uncharacteristically had remained silent. "Tell the police that we'll continue our investigations and to prepare the body for funeral."

* * *

Francis woke the next morning with his head wedged between his wife's pleasantly warm side and his pillow. He rolled partially onto his side and looked up; Theresa was staring down at him with a mischevious look. 

"Don't," he warned. Theresa took great pleasure in teasing him about his sleeping habits...his head rarely on the pillow, face turned to the side and resting on his forearm, and always on his stomach.

"What makes you think I was going to say anything?"

"You have that look." Francis pointed at her face and rolled over onto his back, struggling to untangle himself from the sheets, a task Theresa seemed to have accomplished without waking him. Or maybe she didn't thrash about in her sleep like he did.

"This look simply means that my child is sleeping blissfully...and deeply...and I have a hot shower running in the bathroom."

Francis immediately stopped his war against the bedding and stared at his wife, who by now had gotten up and was sauntering slowly out of the bedroom. Francis was on his feet in an instant and following her to the bathroom, not caring that she was simply trying to cheer him up after his nightmare from last night.

After the shower, Francis lay on the tiled floor with a towel draped loosely over his lower half, drawing patterns idly onto the floor in the steam, and watching Theresa apply her makeup. She had her hair wrapped in a towel and her pajama top cast over her shoulders as she puckered her lips at the mirror and then at her husband.

"Too bright a color? I don't look like a clown do I?"

"No, you look like a whore who caters especially _to_ clowns," Francis smirked.

Theresa kicked him playfully in the side and wiped her lips with a wad of toilet paper. She held up another tube for Francis to see. "What about this color?"

"How am I supposed to know what color looks good? I'm a man remember?" Francis sat up and hugged his knees against his chest looking, very young. Theresa raised an eyebrow and mumbled something in Spanish. "What'd you just say?" Francis asked from the floor.

Theresa threw her hair out of the towel and wrapped it around her body, smiling happily at her husband all the while. "Nothing you haven't heard before baby."

"Sooo, either I'm an idiot or you love me. Is that about right?"

"Well it was one of those two."

Francis pretended to look hurt and put on a very impressive pout which Theresa couldn't help but kiss. Francis opened his mouth to say something else but he was interrupted by a banging at the door.

"_Hey!_ You've been in there for an hour and I gotta pee!" Jesse, apparently awake, pounded at the door.

"Be right out sweetie." Theresa called out to her son and handed Francis his boxers. "I have to finish getting dressed but you should go outside and start making breakfast...oh, and try not to traumatize our son."

Francis chuckled and pulled on his boxers without protest before opening the door a slit and sliding out to face a distressed Jesse.

"Where's mom? I really gotta go!" Jesse squirmed, making Francis laugh again. He opened his mouth, no doubt with some sarcastic and possibly traumatizing remark on the tip of his tongue, but then he thought better of it when he thought of what Theresa would do to him. "She'll be out in a sec. What do you want to eat?" Francis asked and pulled a clean white t-shirt from the laundry basket outside his bedroom door.

"Pancakes!" Jesse exclaimed. "With butter and syrup and powdered sugar and strawberries and whipped cream and...and orange juice with a twisty straw!"

"Actually I was thinking more along the lines of Lucky Charms and milk." Francis explained. He was not a person at home in the kitchen, in fact, he liked to spend as little time as possible in there. An incident involving the blender, which he didn't like to talk about, was the root cause of his fear.

"Pleeeeeeaaaaaase?" Jesse whined with an accompanying pout that matched his father's.

Francis tried to resist, really really tried, but he caved under The Look. He could never resist his son with that pout just like Theresa could never resist him when he did it. It was a Stone family trait that took years to perfect. "I can try but I'm pretty sure they won't turn out well."

"What won't turn out well?" Theresa asked, emerging from the bathroom fully dressed, makeup applied, and toweling the last remnants of water from her long red hair.

"Dad's gonna make pancakes!" Jesse called out happily before vanishing into the bathroom.

"He is?" Theresa looked at her husband with an amused grin. "Since when can you cook?"

"Since never. How 'bout you make breakfast while I go get dressed?"

Theresa frowned. "And where do you think you're going?"

Francis smiled nervously. "Uh, well, I thought I'd go talk to Danny about all of this. I mean, we've been here for almost two weeks and since Static and Gear are so busy with the Morrow case I figured it would be all right to go and see if Sparky's been looking into us."

Theresa clearly didn't like the idea. She had yet to let Francis leave the apartment and Jesse had only been outside with her when they went grocery shopping. She knew her husband was aching to reenter the city life but she didn't want him to get caught. "Fine, I suppose. But you have to be back by eleven, and take your cell phone."

Francis grinned, kissed his wife on the cheek, and hurried into his bedroom to get dressed.

* * *

Danny was sleeping on the couch when the doorman buzzed to tell him there was someone waiting to see him. Yawning, half-dressed, and head pounding fom a hangover, Danny struggled to the intercom and then staggered into his bedroom to grab a shirt. 

When he came back into the main room, he saw someone he hadn't quite expected to see. Static and Gear were sitting on his couch, that not five minutes ago he been snoring on, each sporting a polite smile.

"Oh, um, hello." Danny said trying not to let them see how flustered he was and somehow managed a grin of his own.

"Mr. Taylor?" Gear asked.

"Yeah?"

"We hoped we might have a moment of your time today for a few questions about Frankie Stone. We understand that you knew him from skateboarding?"

Danny sat down, not bothering to button the top half of his shirt and tried to focus on the questions despite the ache in the back of his head. "Yeah, we skated together. He was real good too. He hasn't showed up to any demos in a while, did something happen to him?"

Static and Gear looked at each other before Static answered. "We searched his residence earlier this morning but there was no sign of him or his family. We were hoping you might know where he is?"

Danny opened his mouth to answer but was cut off by his cell phone, which happily sang out 'Sk8ter Boi.' Dany flushed in embarassment while Static and Gear stifled their laughs. "Nice ringtone." Static mumbled.

Danny scowled and flipped his phone open without checking the caller id. "Hello?"

"Danny, hey this is Francis. I was thinking I would stop by in a few minutes. I think we need to talk."

Danny's eyes widened. "N-now's not a good time. Where are you?"

Francis' voice sounded confused. "A block away, why? What's going on?"

"Who is that?" Static asked pleasantly.

"Uh, my g-girlfriend. Yeah my girlfriend...Rachel!" Danny blurted the first name that came to mind.

"Are you sure?" Gear asked and then pulled a small machine from his pocket. "Know what this is?"

Danny stared at it dumbfounded and didn't answer. Gear obviously hadn't expected him to and quickly answered his own question. "I always carry it with me, it's quite useful really. What it does is it monitors any technology in the immediate area. Usually it tells me if there is any high-tech weaponry around. It can also tell me that the TV in your bedroom is on SportsCenter...and who you're talking to right now."

Danny hung up the phone.

Gear smiled. "Too late. The cell phone that the call came from was purchased by a Frankie Stone last year. Location is...conveniently close. Thanks for your time, you've been a real help Mr. Taylor." Gear and Static rose and left the apartment quickly.

Danny sat there for another second before coming to his senses and pressing the re-dial button on his cell phone.

* * *

Francis stared at his cell phone partly with anger and partly in confusion. Danny had just hung up on him with no explanation. He was about to call again when his phone went off in his hand. 

"Danny? What the hell?"

"Francis, Static and Gear were just here! They tracked your cell using this thing and they're coming for you right now! You gotta get outta there!" Danny shouted.

"_Damn it_!" Francis threw his cell phone to the sidewalk in anger and looked up. Static was racing towards him on his disc and there was Gear not two feet behind him. With any luck they wouldn't have seen him yet.

No such luck.

Francis turned to run but Static slammed into him from behind with the bottom of his disc, knocking Francis from his feet. On his knees, Francis watched the superheroes land on either side of him, Static hovering just above the ground. People in the streets stopped and stared at the spectacle.

"Hey Hotstreak." Static greeted him with a sarcastic grin.

"Hey." Francis nodded and got to his feet, examining the holes in his jeans caused by his fall and dusting off his jacket.

"Still don't want to fight?" Gear asked. One hand already had a zapcap in it.

"Not really no." Francis mumbled and looked around for a possible escape. There was no way out of this predicament as far as the pyro could see. The bystanders had formed a circle around them and Static and Gear both looked ready to pounce at any sudden movement on his part.

"Then you're going to come quietly right?" Gear asked hopefully.

"Just because I don't want to fight doesn't mean I won't." Francis' fists clenched at his sides.

Gear didn't ask another question but instead threw the zapcap with the intention to end the fight quickly with minimal damage to the city's property. Tentacles erupted from the grenade and wrapped themsleves tightly around Francis' chest, pinning his arms to his sides.

Francis stared at the tentacles, then at Static and Gear, and sighed. "A fight it is." That was the only warning Static and Gear got. In the next instant Francis' eyes were glowing red and then he exploded into flames. The tentacles melted off completely and people screamed, running away from the fire as fast as they could.

Static threw an arm up in front of his face as a heat wave comprised of eight years of pent up power spilled out before him.

The flames died down quickly revealing a pissed-off Francis. His eyes still glowed menacingly but the fire had burned the bleach out of his hair, returning it to its red and blonde style of old. Static almost smiled, it was much more comforting fighting a person who looked like his old teenage rival.

Francis didn't look nearly so happy, he was frowning after the fleeing crowds. "Great. Now I'm gonna be plastered all over the six 'o clock news." He turned back to the superheroes just in time to see Static come charging at him.

The disc collided with Francis' head and sent him flying backwards into the building across the street. Getting to his feet and dodging another zapcap, Francis wiped blood away from his eyes and sprang into the fight.

He was rusty for sure, he had barely used his powers for the last eight years but skateboarding had kept him in shape. While he might have lost some of his teenage bulk, Francis was now leaner and more flexible than ever before. He threw a fireball at Gear and in the same motion ducked down as he heard the whine of Static's disc from behind him.

Static flew overhead and turned, sending a bolt of electricity towards a fallen street lamp and then hurling it at Francis. The pyro dropped to the ground and the lamp skimmed the tips of his red hair.

Gear was distracted by patting out the fire on his sleeve and for the moment Francis had the advantage. He and Static exchanged electrical charges and fireballs until Gear flew back into the fray with zapcaps at the ready.

Francis was driven back onto the defensive and was barely managing to avoid the flying tentacles when the police finally arrived on the scene. Francis groaned and tried one last time to beat the superhero duo before his chances of escape were cut off for good. He let the flames build up around him and then poured it all in one enormous stream towards Static and Gear.

Static fell from his disc to dodge the fire and was quickly on his feet again in a fighting stance.

Gear had flown above the flames and was pulling more zapcaps from his belt when the fire truck arrived. Francis saw the blast of water speeding towards him before he saw Gear throw another zapcap. He fell backwards, the water swallowing the fire and also washing away the zapcap.

When the torrent let up, Francis was on his back surrounded by debris from the fight, soaking wet, bleeding, and gasping for air. He sat up slowly knowing what he would see.

Static was standing in front of him looking very angry and holding a pair of handcuffs. With one hand, Static grabbed a handful of Francis' torn shirt and pulled the metahuman to his feet. Francis let his rival pull both wrists behind his back and cuff them together without struggle.

Gear landed beside them and pulled a bracelet from his belt, which he placed around Francis' upper arm. The bracelet, Francis knew, would suppress his power.

"Jail then?" Francis asked through deep breaths, not looking directly at either hero.

Static looked at Gear and then back at Francis. "Actually,we wanted to ask you some questions in private first."

**Author's Note:**

So, what did you think? I originally planned to reveal the killer in this chapter but then I realized it would be much too long. Last chapter I asked reviewers to guess who was killed and who the killer was. Not one guess was right I'm sorry to say, I'll still take guesses for the killer. I didn't honestly expect anyone to remember Morrow, he was only in one episode. And yes he is a former child star, I thought that was hilarious, and he could make copies of himself.

Okay then, I guess that's about it. REVIEW!!!


	6. Chapter 6: Allies and Enemies Revealed

Disclaimer: I obviously own nothing related to Static Shock

**Chapter Six: Allies and Enemies Revealed**

"Make yourself comfortable." Static turned away from Francis and gestured at a chair.

Francis raised one eyebrow questioningly but didn't speak. After the fight, Gear and Static had taken him to the Gotham Police Station and then into an isolated interrogation room. There was no one-sided mirror, like in normal interrogation rooms and the room was furnished by only a table and three chairs, two on one side of the table and one on the other. Francis assumed the one lone chair was for him.

Gear reached out and unlocked the handcuffs but didn't touch the power bracelet. Francis sat down, slouching slightly, still watching the heroes warily and rubbing at his wrists, the metal had cut into his skin but he hadn't said anything.

Gear muttered something to his robot and then they both sat down opposite Francis. "Here's the situation Hotstreak," Static started. "Your crimes hold a maximum of six years in jail and a five thousand dollar fine in order to pay back the city. That…is not what we wanted to ask you about."

"I'm going to assume you've heard about this serial killer and all the metahumans he's murdered." Gear said, folding his arm across his chest.

Francis nodded. "Yeah, what about it?"

"In your police records there are several mentions of your skill with a switchblade, and many of the victims show signs of knife wounds…"

Francis sat up straight, his eyes furious. "You think I'm the killer!? So what if I can use a switchblade, what Banger in Dakota couldn't?"

Static held up his hands palm out in a peace gesture. "Hold it there Hothead, we were just saying…"

"You hold it Sparky. I may have wrecked some buildings but I never, ever, killed a person. Never even came close and I wouldn't start killing people for no reason anyway. I'm sure your precious files can tell you as much." Francis glared at both heroes, his mouth twisted into a scowl.

After several long moments, Gear finally broke the tense silence. "Okay, so you're not the killer. You've got to understand we've got to check out anyone who might be a suspect. That included you."

Static was studying Francis and the pyro shifted uncomfortably under his harsh gaze. "What?" Francis asked irritably.

"Do you know what the pattern is? In the killings I mean."

"Metahumans who lost their powers, about every two weeks…and only obscure and easily forgotten ones. Why?" Francis relaxed back in his chair.

"How long ago did you figure that out?" Static leaned forward.

"Just after Langford bit it. So what?"

"Could I talk with you for a sec Gear?" Static stood up quickly and pulled on Gear's elbow. Almost as a second thought, Static pulled a cell phone from his pocket and tossed it to Francis. "Call your wife; let her know where you are."

Francis looked confusedly at Static, and then nodded his thanks.

In the corner of the room, Static and Gear began whispering at each other.

"What is it? I don't think there's anything else when can get from him." Gear said.

"You're supposed to be the genius. What did I just ask him?" Static answered.

Gear looked confused. "About the pattern, but we already know that."

"Yeah, but he figured it out before us. Way before us actually." Static smiled knowingly.

"Ooooooooh. I see."

"Maybe this is what we need, a fresh mind on the case. He's got a different way of thinking than either one of us and it could be of substantial help."

"I dunno V. We're on shaky terms with him."

_"I'M WATCHING THE NEWS RIGHT NOW FRANCIS STONE AND DO YOU KNOW WHAT I SEE? YOU...FIGHTING…GETTING CAUGHT…GOING TO JAIL! WHAT AM I SUPPOSED TO TELL JESSE? THAT HIS FATHER'S AN IDIOT WHO COULDN'T STEP OUTSIDE THE APARTMENT WITHOUT GETTING INTO TROUBLE!?" _

Static and Gear spun around to see Francis holding the phone an arm's length away from his ear and grimacing. It looked like Theresa wasn't taking the news of her husband's capture so well.

"_What if I never see you again? Francis, I didn't even want you going out today."_ Theresa's voice got quieter and shakier. Francis put the phone back to his ear. "Well it's not like I wanted to get caught. And I didn't have a choice; I had to fight 'em." Francis murmured soothingly into the phone, trying to calm his obviously distressed wife with little success.

Gear turned back to Static. "I think you might be onto something. If he doesn't make a break in the case though, we won't have any choice but to send him to jail. And the more I see of him the less I want to do that."

Static nodded. "He _has_ been a law abiding citizen for a while, maybe we could get some of the penalties against him dropped if he helps us."

"Okay, let's ask." Gear turned and walked back over to Francis, who had hung up the phone and was looking very unhappy.

"We have a proposition for you Mr. Stone."

Francis looked up and frowned. "No."

Static came forward. "Aw c'mon. We haven't even told you what the proposition is yet."

"Still no." Francis crossed his arms stubbornly.

"We want you to help us on the murder cases. We think that maybe you can look at this case in a way that Static and I would never be able to." Gear explained.

"What would I get out of it?" Francis unfolded his arms, curious now despite his original refusal.

"Knock some years off your sentence, maybe even let you off with probation. Depends on how much you help us." Static said.

Francis shrugged. "Doesn't seem like I have anything to lose. Are there files I can look at?"

Gear nodded a grin visible underneath his visor and he left the room to fetch the reports.

Francis and Static both looked away from each other and didn't speak again until Gear returned with several manila folders under his arm. "These are witness reports, autopsies, police reports, and photos in chronological order." Gear put the folders on the table in front of Francis.

Francis reached for the first one and opened up Thomas Kim's folder. The geek Francis had known back at Dakota Union had gone on to become a businessman for a small advertising company. Glazing over the witness reports, none of them had actually witnessed the murder so they were pretty much useless, Francis turned to the pictures.

The pictures were the most helpful because they told Francis the most about the killer. The aerial shot was the most interesting; there was something about it that nagged at the back of Francis' mind. There was something familiar in the picture.

"Where are the other aerial shots?" Francis asked, not lifting his eyes from the photo of Kim's mangled body.

Gear quickly rummaged through the files and came up with the rest of the aerial photos. Francis stared at he photos, trying to figure out what was so similar about them. He pointed at the picture of Johnny Morrow. "Is this the only picture from this angle you have?"

"Do you see something?" Static asked and tried to see what Francis saw.

"I can't tell, but I need this picture. It's not right how it is."

"How is it not right? It was taken at the murder scene just like the others." Static pointed out.

"No, it wasn't. Remember, Morrow was killed in his apartment and then dumped out the window so people would find him. Do you need a shot of the apartment? We could go get one, it's still roped off." Gear asked.

Francis finally looked up. "Yeah."

* * *

Theresa put the phone back on the counter and wiped stray tears from her cheeks. It seemed so unfair that after trying to lead normal lives for this last couple of years, she and Francis had failed. Failed misreably in fact. 

"Mom?"

Theresa looked up to see Jesse sitting on the couch, his eyes on the TV which was showing the fight over and over as the newswomen talked about the reemergence of Hotstreak.

"Yeah baby?" Theresa smiled and fought back a fresh round of tears.

"Is Dad in a lot of trouble?" Jesse asked, pointing at the TV.

"Yes, I'm afraid he is."

"When I get in trouble, I just apologize to whoever's going to punish me. Don't you think Dad should do that too? Then he can come home and make pancakes like he promised."

Theresa laughed softly. "I don't think that would work in this case Jess. It's a nice thought though."

There was a knock at the apartment door and Theresa rose to go answer it, leaving her bewildered son to contemplate the TV screen.

* * *

Static had brought the files along with him to Morrow's apartment and had put them on the kitchen table. Francis was sitting in a chair, watching Backpack crawl along the room's walls and take pictures while Gear stood by the window, looking down at the alley where Morrow's body had been found. 

"Assignment complete, photos downloading." Backpack jumped down form the walls and stood near Gear, printing out a piece of paper with the aerial picture.

"Here you go." Gear handed it to Francis, who set it down on the kitchen table. Static sat down opposite him. "Is that what you needed?"

"Yes. I see it now. I knew it looked familiar. Look." Francis took the pictures and placed them near each other like a jigsaw puzzle. One so that only a corner was showing and hardly any of the bodies showed, except their torsos. Francis looked up at Static and then back down at the puzzle.

"Creepy." Gear muttered.

Static's mouth fell open as he stared at the photos.

"I would say someone wants to get your attention." Francis pointed at Static and then back at the photos.

The photos was arranged just so that the blood spattered on the ground, at first in the seemingly random way that blood does fall, formed the circle and lightning bolt symbol emblazoned across the chest of Static's costume. The killer had arranged the blood carefully to create the deadly message.

"Let's get back to HQ." Static said suddenly, rising out of his chair. He gestured for Francis to follow. "You're coming with us too."

They left the apartment quickly, feeling a sense of urgency overtake them. They walked, Francis with a hat pulled over his hair to hide himself from the public eye, Gear and Static receiving some applause and cheers as they passed by.

"I don't understand. Who would want to kill innocent people to get at me?" Static asked, shaking his head in confusion.

"A sick jerk." Gear responded, his brow furrowed in thought.

Suddenly the ground in front of them exploded into a cloud of rubble and dust. People started screaming and running away. Several injured people writhed on the ground and clutched at their wounds where debris had hit them.

"What was that?!" Static asked and looked around, struggling to see through the dust.

Francis coughed and threw an arm up in front of his eyes; he didn't have the benefits of a mask or visor to keep the dust out of his eyes like his companions did.

"There!" Gear pointed through the haze where a large dark figure was standing.

Static powered up and using his powers, pushed the dust away.

Francis took his hat off and wiped a hand through his hair, shaking the dust loose from the red locks. Gear and Static both seemed ready for a fight, and since Francis didn't have his powers, he took a step backwards to get out of the way. When he caught sight of the person, however, he couldn't help but gasp.

The person, a man, was huge. He was very tall and easily two of Francis put together widthwise. It wasn't just his size that was startling, it was his skin. It was a combination of whites, grays, purples, and blacks but the colors were moving, swirling together across the man's chest and face. He looked like a giant slab of marble come to life.

"Did you do that?" Static asked, pointing at the injured people.

The man smiled. "Yes. You should see how much more I can do."

"Who are you?" Gear demanded to know, a zapcap in both hands and a frown on his face.

Francis staggered backwards a step, drawing both Static and Gear's attention. The man also looked up, and an enormous smirk spread across his stony features.

"Wade?" Francis whispered, his eyes wide with shock.

Static spun back around to see the man, Wade, throw his hands out in front of him and then Francis was being thrown backwards. There were long sharp spikes coming out of Wade's hands, pinning Francis to the building behind him. It had happened so fast that Static and Gear had had no time to react.

The spikes hadn't pierced Francis' skin, but had pinned his clothing down to the building, the spikes digging deep into the concrete.

"One and the same F." Wade's smirk grew wider.

Francis' eyes stayed fixed on one spike that was coming out of Wade's chest. It was growing, and it was heading right for his neck. Francis struggled but the spikes wouldn't budge.

Static hardly noticed his newfound ally's struggle. He was too busy staring at the spikes. Knives hadn't been used to kill those metahumans. Spikes had.

"You're the killer." Static said slowly, looking up at Wade.

Wade's smirk only grew wider. "Yes, I am."

"What do you want with me?"

Wade laughed, actually threw his head back and laughed. Static frowned, this wasn't making any sense. "Are you the one pinned to the wall?" Wade asked, a knowing smile crossing his face. "I just knew you would lead me to him."

Francis' eyes grew even wider and he struggled even harder to break free. One of the spikes moved closer to him and pressed against his shoulder, digging a small hole into his flesh. Francis hissed in pain and glared at Wade, who just smirked murderously.

"I've wanted to kill you for years Francis. Why should you have gotten away after the Bang? It was my crew still tearing up the streets whereas all of your crew died but me who got sent to some god forsaken clinic while you roamed freely."

Francis flinched at the mention of his crew and tried to ignore the spike digging slowly into his ankle.

Gear threw a zapcap at Wade but a spike shot out and pierced the grenade in midair. It fell to the pavement sparking and harmless.

"I finally get to kill you. Took fucking long enough if you ask me." Wade muttered and the one spike coming out of his chest shot out.

"Gear! The bracelet!" Francis called out quickly.

Gear whipped out a remote control and typed in a code. The power bracelet popped off of Francis' arm as the spike came shooting at him. Francis burst into flame and shot fire up the spikes. The spikes weren't made of metal, but of Wade's own flesh and the former gang banger reeled back, crying out in pain.

The spike hit the wall, tearing Francis' shirt and cutting through his skin, but missing any major kill zones. Francis rolled out of the way and put a hand to his side, trying to stem the blood flow.

Gear and Static were in front of him in an instant in protective stances. Wade yelled in anger and spikes erupted from every inch of his body. There were glances exchanged between the three allies...and then the fight began.

**Author's Note: **

Well there you go. The killer is Wade. No one got it right, I thought the one flashback of him and Francis would be a hint but I guess not. Oh well, a surprise then. Here's a note, I never intentionally made Static a jerk. I just thought his emotions could get the better of him sometimes. It was kind of amusing how the majority of my reviews were about how big a jerk Static was being. I swear I didn't mean for that to happen but oh well. He and Francis are…kinda…friends now. I suppose? Big fight scene next chapter but I want a lot of reviews, and I promise a whole lot more on Jesse and Theresa too, some unpleasantries await them. Muahhahahahahahahahahahahahahahahah. REVIEW!


	7. Chapter 7: This Just Got Complicated

Disclaimer: I do not own anything related to Static Shock, unfortunately.

**Chapter Seven: This Just Got Complicated**

Spikes shot out from everywhere on Wade's body and Static, Gear, and Francis all jumped or dodged out of the way, sending the three in different directions. Francis rolled into a fighting crouch and sent another jet of fire shooting up five spikes Wade sent at him.

Static and Gear went into an obviously practiced fighting routine, Static going high on his disc and Gear staying low on his skates. Static distracted Wade by throwing things at him while Gear tried to subdue the raging metahuman.

Wade didn't fall for it.

Spikes pierced every zapcap with deadly accuracy so Static went in, weaving through a maze of spikes on his disc and rammed into Wade's body. Wade fell backwards but a particularly large spike shot straight through Static's disc and the hero toppled to the ground, quickly rolling to the side to avoid being impaled as Wade crashed into the concrete where Static had just been lying.

"How're we supposed to beat him? The guy's nearly impenetrable." Static gasped out as Gear ran towards him.

"Beating him isn't the problem, keeping him from slicing up Hotstreak is what we should be focusing on." Gear helped Static up and pointed to where Francis was trying to avoid eight spikes at once.

"Right. Plan R then?" Static brushed some dust off of his shirt.

"Run away until we find a way to crack through those damn spikes? I'm in." Gear grinned and pulled all of his remaining zapcaps from his belt.

Francis fell to his knees and winced as yet another spike cut through his skin. He jumped up and shot a huge burst of flames at Wade.

Wade screamed, the fire worked, but it also made him madder. Madder meant more spikes. This fight was pretty one-sided.

He didn't have time to worry about another round of jagged sharp spikes, however, because Gear pulled him up into the air by the shirt and out of Wade's range.

Static jumped up onto a manhole and shot into the air after them.

"Come back here!" Wade shouted, the spikes receding back into his body.

Gear put Francis down on a nearby roof and watched as Wade shouted at them from the street below. "What a lunatic." Francis wheezed and wiped blood from his face. "You both thought _I_ was the one with anger issues." Francis grinned and laughed through gasps for air.

"Yeah, yeah. Sorry." Static muttered, scanning the street below as Wade threw a tantrum. Swear words floated up to them before it got quiet...too quiet.

Static hovered slowly over the side of the building but then Wade started talking, his voice teasing. "F, you're going to want to see this."

"What's he doing now, slitting a baby's throat?" Francis walked forward next to Static to peer over the building's edge…and almost felt his heart stop.

Wade was standing in the middle of the destroyed street, injured people on the sidewalk and an eerie smile on his face. In his hand, was a single orange feather.

"What did you do?" Francis breathed out. Wade's grin widened. Gear moved forward so there was a hero standing on either side of Francis as he looked down at Wade with wide eyes.

"How come I wasn't invited to the wedding F? Or the baptism? That hurts." Wade twirled the feather idly and put one swirled hand to his chest in mock pain..

"Where is she?" Francis shouted and put one foot on the ledge of the building, as if to jump. Static caught his arm and held him onto the roof although he knew Francis would have liked nothing better than to jump down to the street and punch that smug smile off of Wade's face. Unfortunately, he also knew that is exactly what Wade wanted as well.

"Now, dear Theresa isn't the one you should be worrying about. Don't worry, I'll be in touch." In the instant that followed Wade's words, thirty or so spikes shot out of his body and into the street, causing a cloud of dust to rise up.

Gear threw himself into the air and into the cloud of dust but it was already clearing and Wade was no where in sight.

Francis turned away from the street and sank down to the roof, his back against the ledge. He couldn't breathe, his chest hurt.

Static looked at him with concern. "I'm sure he was just bluffing. Theresa and Jesse are fine."

Francis didn't respond. His eyes were wide and his breathing was coming out raggedly, sweat stood out on his suddenly pale skin and Static wasn't sure if it was from the open wounds or from Wade's threats.

Gear flew back. "He's gone."

Static's shock vox went off and he dug it out of his pocket. "Chief Rogers. Really, identity? Oh." Static put the shock vox back and looked guiltily at Francis.

"That was Police Chief Rogers. He um…he reported another person who carried the trademark wounds of Wade's victims. She's still alive, but..."

"It's Theresa, isn't it?" Francis asked in a strangled voice.

Static nodded.

* * *

The first thing that had to be done was to get Francis taken care of. He needed stitches and Static wanted to make sure he didn't go into shock, that was the last thing they needed. 

So they headed off to the hospital, Francis riding along with Static on his disc and not meeting either hero's worried gaze.

Gear went in to the ER and arranged a private room and then Static snuck Francis in through a side door. With the pyro's face still splashed across every newspaper in the city, discreteness was very important.

Francis walked into the hospital room and collapsed onto the bed, not bothering to take off his shoes or pulling up the covers. A smile pulled at one side of Static's mouth as he shut the door. "Tired?"

One hand rose and fell to rest on the back of Francis' head and he ruffled his red hair in a frustrated manner. "Hurts."

Static's smile disappeared. "Right. Wait, are you talking psychological pain or physical pain?"

"Little 'o both I think." Francis' voice was muffled by the sheets.

Static turned away, he didn't like to see Francis looking so un-Hotstreak like. The door opened and Gear poked his head in. Static looked up and smiled when he saw a young woman wearing a white coat push past Gear and into the room. "Daisy, good to see you again."

Daisy smiled at Static and then frowned at Francis who was still flopped facedown on the bed. "Static, I'm pretty busy right now. If this isn't an emergency…"

'You just need to patch him up. It won't take long, I promise." Static smiled in what he hoped was a winning manner.

Francis turned over on his side and grinned wryly at Daisy. "She doesn't have to stick a needle through me if she really doesn't want to, I'm okay."

Daisy looked surprised for minute, she was never going to refuse to help Francis, she just didn't like him very much and she liked to mess with Static whenever she could. "Well gee Hotstreak, way to make me feel like a lousy doctor."

Francis scowled. "Don't call me Hotstreak."

Daisy walked over to Francis and motioned for him to sit up. Sighing like it was a huge inconvenience, Francis obliged.

"Okay, just some lacerations. This one on your head needs about fifteen or so and the one on your forearm requires at least twenty, but other than that they just need to be cleaned. Lie flat one your back." Daisy wrote some things down on a chart and then turned back to Francis who had obediently settled onto his back.

Daisy ran one hand lightly across Francis' chest and frowned. "You've got a broken rib. I'll call in my intern to set it and then wrap it, she can do the stitches too." She looked carefully at Francis and then at Static at Gear who both sported superficial scratches. "Must've been some fight. Just page me if you need anything else, I'll be in the ICU treating a patient who got knifed."

Static winced at the mention of Theresa and Francis rubbed his forehead gingerly, feeling a headache coming on. "Yeah, that'd be my wife."

Daisy froze. "Your…really?" She looked at Gear who nodded. "Unfortunately so." He muttered.

"Well good. I mean, not good. But…maybe you can help. Before she passed out she kept talking about a boy. Jamie was it?" Daisy turned back to Francis who groaned.

"Jesse."

"That's right. Is there something wrong with Jesse?"

"Besides the fact that Wade kidnapped him? No."

Static, Gear, and Daisy all froze. "What! How do you know that?" Static asked with bafflement on his face.

"Wade said Theresa was the one I shouldn't worry about, that means Jesse is. And if Theresa was trying to tell you about Jess, then that means something happened to him. And if Wade hurt Theresa, then he sure as hell did something to Jess too."

Static exchanged wary glances with Gear for the umpteenth time. "Okay, we'll deal with that. Daisy, you should probably go and check on Theresa."

Daisy looked like she wanted to stay but seeing the look on Francis' face, she turned and left, shutting the door after her.

"When did you break a rib?" Gear asked Francis once Daisy was out of the room.

"When you rammed me with your stupid disc this morning." Francis mumbled.

Static's eye widened, had that really been this morning? It seemed like ages ago.

What Static didn't know, was that combined with Francis' near sleepless night, fighting with him and Gear, solving the picture puzzle, and then fighting Wade had left Francis drained. All he wanted to do right now was shut off the worry for his son and wife for just an hour or two and sleep. He _really_ needed to sleep.

An intern, a young woman with round glasses and an easy smile walked in with some needles and antiseptic. "My name is Dr. Goldman, sit up please and I'll stitch you up."

Francis groaned again, why could they just let him lie down? Static shot him a bemused grin over the intern's shoulder. Francis scowled back as his forehead was dabbed with a cool liquid.

"Let me know if there's too much discomfort." Goldman picked up a needle and began pulling Francis' forehead back together.

Gear smothered a chuckle at the look on Francis' face. It was a cross between exhaustion, anger, and confusion. It would have been less funny if Francis' eyes hadn't kept fluttering shut.

Static thought about sticking around, but then Goldman had Francis peeling off his shirt to get a look at his ribs so he and Gear both decided to leave. "I'm going to go check on Theresa."

"All right, I'm gonna check on the food in the cafeteria. Then we should go back to Wayne Towers and figure this out." Gear smiled and headed off down the hall.

* * *

Static stuck his head into Theresa room and saw Daisy checking on her vitals. "Hey." Static stepped into the room and shut the door behind him, making sure to lock it as well. 

Daisy looked up and grinned. "Hey yourself. This has been a mess of a day. Hotstreak's back, I never would've thought it was possible."

Static nodded and pulled off his mask, rubbing one hand through his dreads. "I need to talk to you Daisy."

"Virgil, I figured as much when you paged me." She held up her beeper.

"The killer in all this…is Wade. Remember I told you about him, banger who wanted me to join his gang and kill Hotstreak and then the Bang gas got him." Virgil said, walking around the bed to stand on the opposite side as Daisy who was watching him with concern.

"Of course I remember, you told me all that the same night you told me you were Static. What's up with you. You're acting really strange."

"Um…well. If Wade can track down Hotstreak's family when even Gear couldn't, he could maybe try track down mine or Rich's family too. I'd like it if you asked for a leave of maybe a week and went to stay with my Pops. Just until Gear and I can figure this whole thing out. I don't want what happened to Theresa or Jesse to happen to us."

"Oh, your concern is sooooo sweet."

Virgil jumped and Daisy almost dropped her chart. "Theresa?"

Theresa's eyes were open slightly and there was small grin on her lips despite the tube in her mouth. "Wait'll Francis hears that his most hated rival was the same kid he beat up once in high school."

"_You can't tell him_!" Virgil whisper-shouted, his voice frantic.

Theresa laughed, and then coughed…and then looked like she was going to be sick. Daisy started forward and handed a cup of medicine to her patient. Theresa swallowed it slowly and once her breathing had calmed down she looked at Virgil. "Chill out, I won't tell him if you don't want me to. But you have to promise not to throw him in jail."

"I can't make that promise." Virgil pressed his mask back onto his face, knowing that it didn't matter now.

"Probation then. We'll pay for everything." Theresa's voice got quieter and Static had to strain to hear it.

Daisy stepped forward. "You're not well enough, this is putting too much of a strain on you. Static can come back tomorrow, with your husband I suppose." Daisy looked at Static who nodded.

"Yeah, I'll bring Hotstreak tomorrow and we can talk about this but please, please, don't say anything to anyone before then."

"I won't."

"Thank you." 

"Static, wait." Theresa's voice made Static stop with his hand on the doorknob.

"What?"

"Keep my husband safe, he's going to go crazy trying to find Jesse and that probably means doing stupid things like endangering his own life when he doesn't have to. Try to keep him on track for me?"

Static grinned. "Well I can try, but I have to warn you, Hotstreak doesn't really listen to what I have to say."

* * *

At Wayne Towers, Gear found Francis an unoccupied guest room and the pyro kicked off his shoes, pulled off his shirt, and crawled into bed. He was asleep in seconds. Gear locked the door from the outside just to be sure and the he took off his visor and sighed. 

It was almost eleven at night but it felt a lot later. Virgil was trying to find some food in the kitchen so Richie went off in search of some bandages for them both. He didn't get that far. A dark presence in the lounge stopped him. "Bruce, would it kill you to turn _some_ lights on?" Richie asked with a grin.

Bruce Wayne stood, wearing a crisply ironed business suit, and walked over to Richie to shake hands. "I understand you've been busy while I was gone."

"You could say that. C'mon, V's in the kitchen."

* * *

Virgil was bent over in the fridge with naive hope. Rich had cleared out the fridge this morning before they had gone to the morgue. But you never knew, maybe the food fairies had come. All of the sudden the back of his neck prickled and Virgil straightened quickly and spun around. "Don't _do_ that!"

Bruce barely cracked a smile while Richie was having a silent fit of laughter. "Want to explain this." Bruce casually turned the TV on and footage of the fight with Francis filled the screen...and then it moved onto the fight with Wade.

"Oh, well that's the killer and that's who the killer wants to kill." Static explained bluntly.

Bruce raised one eyebrow. "And where are they both?"

"Well the killer is who knows where with a hostage who just happens to be Hotstreak's son, who is who the killer wants to kill. And Hotstreak is down the hall sleeping like a baby with some new stitches and a few busted ribs."

Richie started to laugh silently again as both of Bruce's eyebrows shot for his hairline, the only sign of his surprise.

* * *

Jesse sat with his arms wrapped around his kness, hugging himself. This place was cold, and dark, and dirty. And above all...very scary.

He was locked in a small room with a strange metal bracelet around his wrist that beeped every few minutes. It wasn't like any handcuff Jesse had every seen but he figured it was pretty much the same thing.

This morning, a huge man had burst into the apartment after his mom had put the phone down. He remembered she had almost been crying but not quite, that's because his dad was in jail. Then the man had exploded with spikes and some had hit his mom. She screamed and Jesse ran from the living room to help but the man caught him and knocked him out. Then he had woken up here and now he was hungry and cold. He was only wearing a ripped t-shirt and jeans and the man hadn't bothered to give him any food. Jesse wished he had had more than cold cereal at breakfast.

Jesse ran one hand across his face, his cheeks itched where tears had dried when he suddenly jerked away from the door and into the corner of the room. The man was back, and from crashing sounds he made as he neared the small room, he wasn't happy.

**Author's Note**

I have one thing to say...POOR JESSE! Hang in there little guy!

PLEASE REVIEW!


	8. Chapter 8: Superhero Uncertainty

Disclaimer: Just because I wish I owned Francis doesn't mean I do.

**Chapter Eight: Superhero Uncertainty**

Francis awoke late in the morning and immediately wished there wasn't a window in the small room. The light nearly blinded him, and exacerbated a raging headache that was pounding behind his eyes.

He swung his legs over the side of the bed and all of his muscles contracted at once to culminate into one large ache. Francis groaned, rubbed his eyes wearily, and looked around for a bathroom.

Sure enough, a door in the corner led to a small bathroom and Francis gratefully started the shower.

When he emerged from a cloud of steam, he wasn't overly surprised to find Static and Gear sitting on his bed. He was surprised to see Batman lurking in the corner.

"Hi."

"We got you some new clothes.' Gear tossed a bag to Francis.

While Francis was pulling on jeans and a long-sleeved black shirt, Static started talking about the next logical course of action with Gear piping in every now and again. Batman stood in the corner with hi arms folded over his broad chest, nodding but not saying anything.

"…so we wait until your ribs heal. Then we can get to work on how to track Wade. I'll be going down to the police station to file reports; Batman volunteered to scope out possible places Wade could be hiding. Gear will stay here with you and run diagnostics. Is everything clear?"

Francis looked around the room, and then slowly raised his hand. Gear sniggered and Static's mouth twitched. "Yes…Hotstreak." He pointed at Francis.

"First, don't call me Hotstreak. Second, any chance of seeing my wife today?" Francis asked and rummaged in the bag until he found a red zip up hoodie and pulled that on, pushing the sleeves up above the elbow.

"Oh, I guess I forgot that. Anyway, yeah. I'll take you this afternoon."

"Just so long as I have a chaperone right?" Francis muttered with not so hidden disgust.

"Sorry man, but we've got keep an eye on you. Not just because you're a criminal but also because Wade wants to tear you apart." Gear said.

"Whatever."

"Well now that today's schedule has been decided, everyone needs to get to work." Batman said and began walking to the door.

Static and Gear didn't move but Francis jumped, he had forgotten that Batman was even in the room.

* * *

Jesse tried to imitate the glare his mom always gave his dad when he ate the last of her brownies without telling her but his captor appeared to be impervious.

"My dad's gonna kick your butt!" Jesse wriggled and tried to find a weakness in the chains holding him to the wall. He had been moved from the small room into a large warehouse like space with crates everywhere.

"Your dad is a weakass poor excuse for flesh who couldn't kick his way out of a paper bag." Wade grunted out insults between bites of a sandwich.

Jesse's eyes widened and then his face set in a scowl. "Yeah…well you're a jerk!"

Wade snorted and pushed back his folding chair. "You really are F-Stop's kid. You never know when to shut your mouth." He picked up the chair and threw it.

It crashed into the wall inches from Jesse's head. Jesse yelled and jerked away, the chair fell on his outstretched leg. He kicked it off and shrank farther against the wall, watching Wade carefully for another outburst.

Wade seemed to have forgotten that Jesse was even there and he walked away to get more food.

Jesse's stomach growled and he put a hand gingerly to his aching abdomen. "My dad _will_ kick your butt." He muttered quietly.

* * *

"Soooo, what does this do?" Francis pointed at a screen.

"That monitors the whole city, if there's disturbance that will tell me." Gear said without looking up. He was busy typing at four keyboards and deciphering the information that came in through his visor.

Francis sighed and twirled around in his chair again. He was bored. That was probably not the emotion he should be feeling at this moment but he had been sitting and watching Gear stare at screens for almost three hours.

"Isn't there something else you could be doing?" Gear asked annoyed, glancing behind him for a minute.

"Static forbade me to leave your sight, remember?" Francis blew a lock of red hair out of his eyes and rubbed the bandage on his forehead.

"Since when do you listen to Static?" Gear mumbled.

Francis opened his mouth to respond, and then shut it again. "You know what…that's a good point. I'm off to snoop in places I shouldn't." Francis got up and left.

"That's nice." Gear muttered and waved him off absent-mindedly. Then it occurred to him what Francis had said. "Wait, what?! Hotstreak get back here!"

"Make up your mind why don't you?" Francis' voice came back to him from several halls away.

* * *

Theresa was sitting up in bed reading a magazine, bandages on her face, arms, and her chest. She didn't hear the door open or see the two men who entered her hospital room.

"Hey baby."

Theresa put down the magazine and smiled at her husband who was standing by the doorway looking awkward. "Francis, love of my life, light of my soul, and father of my child. How I lived without you I'll never know!" Theresa exclaimed dramatically and threw out her arms, inviting Francis for a hug.

Francis laughed and walked forward to hug her, careful of her IV. He moved to pull away after a second but Theresa wrapped her arms around her neck and held him there, his head resting lightly on her collarbone.

Static cleared his throat and Theresa let Francis stand. His face had gone as red as his hair.

"We have no idea where Wade is." Static started.

"Not surprising." Theresa said, scooting over on the bed slightly and patting the bed for Francis to sit.

"What do you mean?" Static went to close the door but Daisy put a foot out to stop it and stepped into the room. Static looked at her, confusedly.

"What? I want to hear this too." Daisy shrugged and walked over to Theresa's side. "Careful of the tubes." She said to Francis, who scooted over on the bed accordingly and draped an arm over Theresa' shoulders. She tipped her head to rest on his shoulder and he winced ever so slightly, it put pressure on his injured arm.

"Not surprising because if Wade doesn't want to be found, he won't be." Theresa looked up at Francis.

"Remember your junior year when he vanished for three months because the police were on him about drug trafficking?"

"Oh yeah, it was really Marco though." Francis grinned and then looked at Static. "Wade said he would find me, probably for a trade."

"Trade?" Daisy asked.

"Me for Jesse." Francis said succinctly. Everyone turned to look at him. "He wants to kill me. He kidnapped Jesse to lure me into a position of vulnerability where I'll give him anything in exchange for Jesse's safety."

"Okay, so we have to take that leverage away. Get to Jesse before Wade can use him against us." Static said.

"Leverage? This is my son you are talking about, a six-year-old who can't even put himself to bed yet! You're talking about him like he's just another variable in an equation!" Francis came close to shouting but Theresa squeezed his arm.

"We have to bring Wade to justice." Static argued.

"And _I_ have to make sure nothing happens to Jesse!" Francis shot back.

"I want to help your son but we have to take into consideration what's best for the city first." Static tried to reason.

"The city isn't what's in trouble. Wade won't hesitate to hurt him, if he hasn't already." Francis explained, his voice dropping dangerously low. Static almost preferred the shouting.

The room was quiet until Theresa spoke. "Wade has an even shorter temper than Francis, I don't want my baby with him."

"How short?" Daisy asked, checking Theresa's pulse.

Francis pulled up his shirt; just above the bandaging for his ribs was a scar that ran across his side. "He knifed when we were ten because I was short three dollars on a baseball bet we made."

"Oh." Static's eyes went wide. "Okay, I see your point."

Francis smirked in victory.

Static moved back to the door. "We have a lot to do. It's about time we left."

Francis got up from the bed and bent over to kiss his wife goodbye. Theresa pulled on his shirt and looked at her. "Promise me you'll control your temper."

"Okay."

"I mean it."

"I know you do." Francis smiled.

"I don't want you hurt too. And bring Jesse back."

"Course. Love you."

Theresa reached up and kissed his cheek. "I love you too. Be a good boy."

"Yeah, yeah." Francis walked out the door smiling.

"I'll be right there." Static said and walked back into the room.

Daisy looked at the door and then back at Theresa who was smiling to herself. "You two make a cute couple."

'Thanks."

Static looked uncomfortable at the 'girl talk.' "About what you know…"

"I won't say anything until all of this is over." Theresa promised, crossing her heart with one bandaged hand.

"Good, great. Daisy, are you staying with…"

"Your dad? Yes, and Sharon and Adam are there too like you asked. My first day of leave starts when I get off in two hours."

"Also good. Well…have a good day doctoring, and lying in bed." Static waved and started for the door.

"Yes, it's really quiet exhausting." Theresa muttered and Daisy hid her grin behind a chart.

* * *

Gear was still at the computers when Static and Francis returned.

"Any word from B-Man?" Static asked and pulled a soda from the refrigerator. Bruce had had the foresight to have one of his butlers go on a food run that morning.

Francis helped himself to a drink and listened to Gear rattle off some numbers and places.

"So far, he can't find anything." Gear finished and typed something in. The screen flashed blue and symbols flew by too quickly for either Francis of Static to decipher. "Seems he thinks the East side is promising."

"We're thinking about this the wrong way. Like with the murders." Static turned to Francis. "What do you think?"

Francis considered the question, sipped his drink, and smirked. "There's something you should know about Wade. He thinks everyone except him is a moron."

Gear swiveled in his chair away from the screens for what must have been the first time today. "Everyone? I don't think Wade's that conceited."

"Trust me on this. Wherever he's hiding, will be somewhere completely obvious that Wade thinks we will never think of because it's so obvious."

"So where do you think he is since you know how he thinks?" Static asked, speaking before Gear could interrupt again.

"I dunno." Francis took another sip. "He blames me for the Big Bang and he blames the Big Bang for ruining his life and crew. Where was the Big Bang again?"

'The docks!" Static and Gear exclaimed as one. Gear immediately turned back to the screens. "Batman was right, the docks are on the East side, but there are warehouse all over. Wade could be in anyone of them."

"Then we'll have to check them all out. Tonight." Static said and then turned to Francis. "How're your ribs feeling?"

"He can't come." Gear said. "He's not supposed to do anything physical for at least two weeks. Ideally a month."

"Well I'm not staying here." Francis said stubbornly. "Jesse is wherever Wade is, I'm coming."

"You're not."

"Like hell I'm not!"

"Stop, stop! Listen; there is a happy median here. Francis comes but does not participate in any fighting." Static suggested hopefully, stepping strategically in between the two.

"I don't know. Wade's targeting Hotstreak." Gear explained logically.

"For the hundredth time, DO NOT CALL ME HOTSTREAK!" Francis shouted. "And I can look after myself. I like the plan."

"Of course you do, you must have missed the day they were giving out common sense and you just headed over to the dum-dum store and loaded your cart up to the very top didn't you!"

"That was a really long insult." Static commented.

Francis' face got red again. "I'm not dead yet am I and I was running from Wade for _years_ before this mess!"

"Both of you knock it off right now." Batman's commanding voice stopped all three mid-insult. "Hotstreak comes. He doesn't fight. To make sure of that you put the bracelet back on him and he stays outside the building with a shock vox. If Wade attacks him, we take off the bracelet."

Gear looked happier and left the room. Francis looked mutinous and muttered something under his breath about not calling him Hotstreak.

Static let out a breath he didn't know he had been holding. This was not a happy group.

* * *

Wade jerked awake suddenly and looked around the warehouse. The brat was sleeping still; his head resting against one chained arm and mouth open slightly. Wade looked away before he felt the familiar loathing rise in his chest; the kid looked so much like the F-Stop he knew that he had to resist the urge to punch him in the face whenever he looked his way.

Wade stood and one spike rose out of the palm of his hand. He could have sworn he had heard something.

But that was ridiculous; there was no way anyone could know where he is. Gear may be smart but he over-thought things, and Static and F didn't have enough brains between them to make a sandwich.

Wade smiled at the thought. Boy, were they stupid. They had played right into his plan and so far it had gone according to plan.

**Author's Note:**

Eh, I'm not so happy with this chapter but I think it got the job done. Next chapter will have some fighting so it will hopefully be easier to write than all if this talking crap. Please REVIEW!


	9. Chapter 9: Like Father, Like Son

Disclaimer: If I wish hard enough, do you think I could own Hotstreak someday?

**Chapter Nine: Like Father, Like Son**

"Take this, do not go anywhere without it." Static handed Francis a shock vox without looking at him. He was too busy rummaging through his closet looking for his boots.

"And…this works like a walkie-talkie?" Francis weighed the shock vox in his hand uncertainly.

"Yup, button on top let's you talk, dial on the side changes channels but we're on a secure channel anyway so there's no need." Static pulled back from the closet with one boot and sighed, blowing a stray dread lock out of his face. "Don't have to let go of the button to hear us talk though. That's a handy feature." He pointed at Francis' waist. "It clips onto your belt."

"Cool. When're we leaving?" Francis asked as he clipped the device to his side.

"An hour or so. Batman wanted to run some preliminary tests on the location first." Gear said from the doorway. "Your other boot is in the kitchen; don't ask me how it got there."

"Oh yeah. See last night I wanted some peanut butter, but the jar wouldn't open…"

"So you used your boot to smash it?" Francis asked with a bemused grin.

"That would explain the shard of glass in my skate then." Gear balanced on one foot to pick the glass out of the bottom of his shoe.

* * *

Gotham's east side was unpleasant by any stretch of the imagination. Batman spent most of his time making sure that the various gangs and criminals who ran around over there stayed in check. Most of them didn't. 

The warehouses running along the docks there had been used many times before for nefarious doings but this was the first time Static and Gear had ever been down the wharf. Their eyes were wide with wonder but also focused as they flew over the rooftops of the large buildings. Francis was less interested in the scenery, he had hung around plenty of docks in his day and knew exact;y what went on in areas like this.

He and Batman flew in silence alongside Static and Gear in Batman's streamlined and completely silent jet.

The group landed at the far end of the docks. Batman sent the jet to wait in the clouds and they set off. No one talked much, the superheores communicated with signs, not unlike the ones used by the military. Francis quickly learned one raised fist meant stop and that a hand lowered meant drop.

The first three warehouses yielded no psycho murderer or his young hostage. The next held a druggie and his prostitute. After that there were two more warehouses wtih decidedly illegal activities going on. It pained Batman to leave the criminals alone and continue with the mission.

For almost an hour after that the warehouses were deserted. Francis grew frustratred and several times Gear turned and motioned for him to be quiet. The tension was killing him, what if he had been wrong? What if Wade wasn't even down here and they were wasting their time?

They came to the last warehouse wedged between a sea wall and the previous building. It was considerably smaller than the others and the group almost missed entirely Most of its windows were broken or missing all together. The door was reinforced steel however, and Static went to work trying to loosen it. Gear went around to the side and looked for another entrance or a possible escape route.

There was sudden small crash, Gear had accidenatlly knocked over a trash can. Batman pulled Francis behind some crates and Static followed Gear around the corner. Nobody came out. Batman sighed and waved the others over.

"Sorry, I didn't see it." Gear mumbled apologetically as he crouched beside Francis

"Looks like no harm was done." Batman looked at Francis. "Stay here. We'll be back in a second."

Francis frowned but didn't object. He had agreed to the rules hadn't he?

Slowly, the heroes approached the building and entered. Francis lost sight of them in the shadows of the doorway. The pyro sighed heavily and brushed away a stray lock of red hair. If Wade wasn't in this one, then they were back to sqaure one.

"Well, well F-Stop. Seems like your cleverer than I thought."

Francis whirled around and opened his mouth to yell for help. He didn't get the chance. Wade wrapped one huge hand around his mouth and the other around his chest, trapping his arms to his side.

Francis squirmed and kicked, hitting Wade in the chest. Wade winced, but only for a second. "You didn't think I'd be stupid enough not to have surveillance did you?" Wade nodded towards the building and Francis turned his head enough so he could see a camera protruding from the sea wall. Francis frowned. He _should_ have thought of that.

"And now I have you all to myself." Wade grinned and the sight sent a shiver up Francis' spine. Whatever happened next would not bode well for him.

* * *

"Creepy." That one word summed up the interior of the warehouse as Static so helpfully supplied. 

"I'll say." Gear whispered back. He was switching between looking around and watching Batman's back in case he motioned for something.

The warehouse was dark and damp, there were puddles of water on the floor and the walls were covered with a slime that must have accumulated over the years. Clearly no one had used the place is many, many years. The only thing sanitary about it was the small kitchen area they had stumbled upon. The fridge and lights looked new. The threesome pushed on into the main holding room. Old crates were stacked in piles, almost to the ceiling. Most were broken and others lay rotting from the damp.

Batman stopped, one fist raised high. Static and Gear froze obediantly. Then Batman turned and gripped his chin with his thumb and index finger. The sign for hostage.

Static and Gear moved to flank Batman and they saw a small boy chained to the wall. His head had slumped against his shoulder, looking asleep. Static frowned. Just because he looked asleep might not mean he was. Batman tapped him on the shoulder and motioned for him to approach.

Static moved forward, looking to see that Batman and Gear had fanned out to the sides of the room to cover him in case it was a trap. As he got nearer, Static could plainly see that it was Jesse chained to the wall. There were a few bruises and his clothes were torn but he seemed relatively uninjured. Static knelt and felt for a pulse, it was steady. He held a hand up in front of Jesse's mouth and was pleased to find that his breathing was even as well. Gently, Static shook Jesse' shoulder.

It took a second but Jesse opened his eyes wearily and yawning. "St-static?" Jesse asked, his voice low.

Static nodded and put a finger to his lips for quiet. Jesse nodded, clamping his mouth shut. Static made quick work of the chains and Jesse stood slowly, the muscles in his legs had cramped and made it hard to walk. Static bent and scooped Jesse into his arms, frowning at the cut on the back of his neck.

"Where's my Dad?" Jesse whispered into Static's ear as he carried him across the room.

Static didn't have a chance to answer, the ground exploded in front of him. Static covered Jesse's head with his arms and rolled so he hit the ground with his back, protecting Jesse from impact.

Batman ran into the middle of the room and pulled Static to his feet. Jesse went to get up but a spike shot out of the smoke and through his shirt, pinning him to a wall. Gear lunged for Jesse, lobbing zapcaps into the dust.

"Freeze hero, or that brat will be the second one to die tonight."

"Second..." Breathed out Gear, already knowing what must have happened.

The smoke cleared and Wade stood there, retracting the spikes into his body. One arm was extended straight ahead, where a spike from his palm was holding Jesse to the wall. The other arm was wrapped around Francis' neck.

"Dad!" Jesse cried out.

Francis was unconscious, a hole in his shoulder was dripping blood onto the grimy floor and he had a nasty cut below his eye. Wade was holding him off the ground so his feet dangled in the air and he was grinning in a very satisfied manner. "I thought that noise might have been you heroes snooping around. Frankly I'm amazed you even found me." Wade laughed. "But I turned the tables back in my direction, you fools."

"Easy Wade. Put Hotstreak down, trust me, you don't want to get stuck with a murder rap." Static tried reasoning.

Wade laughed again and a spike shot out of his side and into Francis' thigh. Francis jerked awake with a cry of pain and then glared at Wade. "I'm gonna fucking kill you." He hissed, his face contorted in rage.

"Diplomatic as always F." Wade laughed again. "Lay one hand on me and you can just watch what happens to your brat."

"Jesse?" Francis whipped his head around and saw his son looking at him with wide terrified eyes, a spike dangerously close to his neck. "Asshole. How can you do that?"

"Gear." Static whispered out of the corner of his mouth while Wade was distracted.

"Hmm?" Gear looked towards his friend to see Static mimicking pressing a button on a remote. "Oh. Right." Gear pressed a button on the side of his helmet and the power suppresor on Francis' arm popped off.

Wade looked down confused at the metal bracelet. Francis, on the other hand, burst ino flames and punched Wade in the side of the head with a flmaing fist. Wade flew into the opposite wall. Francis ducked low to avoid flying chips of concrete and then ran over to Jesse.

The flames dissapeared and Francis knelt and pulled Jesse to him. Jesse clamped both arms around his father's neck and tried not to cry. "God, Jess. You scared the shit out of me." Francis mumbled into his son's hair.

"_F-STOP_!" Wade roared, picking himself out the hole in the wall.

Francis looked up and dropped to the floor, pulling Jesse with him. Just in time too, a spike flew over, grazing the tips of their matching red hair.

Francis jumped up and, keeping Jesse behind him the whole time, retreated back to the others. "Watch him." Francis handed Jesse to Static and then ran forward, ignoring Batman's shouts for him to stay. Flames licked at his body but Francis was far too angry to notice. All he was seeing was Wade and he would make him pay for touching his wife and child, no matter the cost.

Wade had lost it. He threw out his arms and spikes poured forward. Francis dodged between them, not even wincing when he was cut. He shot fire towards Wade and smirked when his old rival fell backwards again.

Wade kicked and a spike shot out of the bottom of his foot, breaking through the boot. Francis jumped to avoid it but didn't see the other spike coming at him and it tagged his ankle. Francis clenched his teeth to cut off the scream of pain and rolled to the side, dodging another spike as Wade lumbered back to his feet.

Well, whether Francis wanted the help or not, Batman and the others were not going to just sit back and watch the fight. Static put Jesse behind a crate and orderd him sternly to stay there and followed Batman and Gear into the fray.

Francis shot the heores an annoyed look but otherwise didn't protest the help. So long as Wade was beaten, he didn't really care how it happened.

* * *

Robert Hawkins, now in his mid sixties, woke to the sound of his doorbell ringing. The old man sighed, ran a hand over his face, and got up off of the couch to go answer the door. 

It was his daughter, Sharon. "Daddy! Hi, I was going to call." Sharon hugged her father.

"Don't worry about it honey, I was just taking a little nap. Did you bring my grandkids?" Robert smiled, he loved it when Sharon and Adam came to visit.

"Grandpa!" Taylor ran up the steps and hugged Robert around the legs, her pigtails bobbing with each step. "I missed you. Guess what?"

Robert stooped to pick the six-year-old up. "What sweetie?"

"In school yesterday Mrs. Jones said I drew the best lighthouse! Then she put it on the board with a star sticker! Isn't that great?" Taylor babbled excitedly.

Robert laughed. "You're a regular Picasso." He looked behind Sharon. "And where's my favorite little baseball star?"

"Here he is." Adam called, coming around the side of the house with his three-year-old son in his arms. "He tried to run across to that park over there." Adam explained to his wife. Sharon sighed and rolled her eyes, but she smiling. "Dev does love to play in the grass, he can smell a park from three streets away."

Robert adjusted Taylor to one arm and tickled Devin with his free hand. "Hit any homeruns today slugger?" Devin giggled and pulled his baseball hat lower over his eyes, clearly loving the attention.

Taylor tapped Robert's head gently with a small fist to get his attention. "Got any popsicles Grandpa?"

"I think I do. Everyone come in, let's see what we can do about dinner." Robert carried Taylor inside and everyone else followed after him.

Sharon looked around. "I thought Daisy was supposed to be here. Didn't our local superhero tell her to lie low for a while?"

"She went shopping, complaining about how I have no vegetables in the house." Robert huffed. "I keep telling her I'm a fruit man, but she just won't listen."

Adam laughed from the living room where he had turned on a basketball game. "It's okay Dad. Devin loves carrots anyway, one of these days he'll turn orange."

Taylor laughed and nudged her brother. "Orange! You wanna be orange?"

Devin shook his head. "No, I wanna be purple!"

"No one's turning any color." Sharon announced sternly. "And no popsicles until _after_ dinner." She reminded Taylor who had begun rooting around in the freezer.

"Hi everyone." Daisy called from the door. "Want to help with the groceries?"

Adam got up and took the bulging bags from Daisy and followed her into the kitchen. "Have you heard from Virgil since this morning?" Adam asked, trying to make it sound casual.

Daisy frowned and shook her head. "He said he'd call if anything happened. He' s probably too busy running around with Richie and Hotstreak to keep track of the time."

Sharon smiled and handed Devin the carrots he was reaching for. "Hotstreak. That's a name I never thought I'd hear again. But if he's really just looking for out for his kid like you said, than I wish him all the luck. How's his wife doing?"

Daisy laughed. "Theresa will be just fine. She's the kind of person who's not going to let a few stitches slow her down."

"Do you know who the murderer is? Did Virgil tell you?" Robert asked, putting things away in the fridge.

Daisy shifted from one foot to the other uncomfortably. "Well...yes. But I'm not supposed to tell you. Technically, Virgil wasn't even supposed to tell me. I can say for sure that it's no one good."

"I've got a pretty good idea." Adam muttered. Sharon punched him in the shoulder. "Who?"

"Well if I'm not supposed to say then I won't." Adam winked at Daisy. "I know who hung around with my brother's gang back in the old days though, and who's still around now."

"I just hope Virgil is being careful whatever he's doing." Robert said.

* * *

Francis tried to avoid the spike but it caught his shirt and Wade rotated his body, throwing Francis down the length of the spike and over his shoulder. Francis crashed headlong into a pile of crates which collapsed the moment he smashed into them. 

Francis sat up, perhaps too quickly. A rib snapped beneath the torn bandaging. He gasped and fell backwards again, holding his chest in pain.

Wade wasn't sure what had happened, but he felt a shift in the momentum. It was now swinging in his favor. Wade grinned and advanced towards Francis, intent on killing him now while he was down on the floor.

Fortunately for Francis, there were three superheroes in the room who weren't about to let that happen. Static, Gear, and Batman all charged at once and Wade was sent spiraling across the room. He landed inches away from Jesse who had stayed in his hiding place.

"JESS! MOVE!" Francis sat up far enough to see Wade reaching out for his son with one pointy hand.

Jesse scrambled backwards but not fast enough. Wade caught his arm and dragged the boy struggling towards him, trapping Jesse in a bear hug. "Don't...move." Wade rasped.

"Stop it Wade. You're done, let him go." Static said calmly, hands up in a peaceful gesture.

"Don't think so hero." Wade growled and got to his feet awkwardly, still holding Jesse tight against him. "Either I get F or the kid. Your choice."

"You're in no position to be bargaining." Batman said.

A spike shot out of Wade's chest near Jesse's face, cutting his cheek. Jesse squirmed and tried to get away. "Leggo!" He yelled and kicked backwards. His foot connected with Wade's abdomen and his captor doubled over slightly, momentarily winded.

The spike pressed closer against Jesse's cheek and drew more blood. Jesse stopped wriggling and winced. Wade straightened and tighetend his grip on his hostage. "Like father, like son eh F?" Wade grinned maniacally across the room. "Am I in position now?"

Francis stood slowly, one arm pressed against his chest. Every breath was a struggle and his left arm, where his shoulder had been punctured, had gone entirely numb and hung limply at his side. "Don't." He wheezed, wishing he sounded more threatening.

"Then get your ass over here." Wade growled back.

Static caught Francis' sleeve. "Don't you dare. There's another way."

"What? What can I do?" Francis asked with desperation.

Gear looked between Wade and Francis, and made a decision. He tapped Batman on the shoulder. "When I say go, you grab Jesse."

Batman looked suspicious. "What're you going..."

Gear ignited his skates and took off before Batman finished his question. Wade followed him with his eyes.

"Gear! What are you doing!" Static yelled.

Gear went into a dive, headed straight for Wade. The murderer looked confused for a second. And then he launched every spike he could at the plummeting hero. What Gear had been hoping for happened, Wade loosened his grip on Jesse to concentate on him. "GO!" He yelled as loud as he could, swerving to avoid the spikes.

Batman dove forward, grabbing Jesse away away from Wade and falling back to a safe distance. Gear saw that Jesse was safe and tried to turn his jets to retreat, but one of Wade's spikes shot through his skates. It was quickly followed by another spike going through his stomach. Gear opened his mouth in a silent scream... and then fell.

"_No! Gear_!" Static jumped on his disc and caught his friend before he hit the ground. "Gear! Gear, can you hear me? Stay awake buddy." Gear's eyes were fluttering shut behind his visor. Static looked desperately at Batman for help but there was nothing the Dark Knight could do.

Wade smirked and wiped blood from his spikes. "You made me kill the wrong one, you brainy freak."

Francis ran, or hobbled on his injured leg, over to Static, tearing off the bottom of his shirt as he went. "Press this against the wound, hold it there." Francis looked at Gear's back as Static did what he was told. "No exit wound. That's good." Francis looked back at Wade with a snarl on his face. "What the hell is wrong with you. You were never this messed up before."

Wade laughed. "Nah, everyone thought you were the psycho one. Eight years of stewing over the wrongs done to you can do a lot to a person."

"WHAT WRONGS!" Francis shouted, losing his temper. Smoke curled around his clenched fists "You called _me_ to the docks! You were using what happened with Hawkins to call a fight when really you had been manipulating Hawkins the whole time. I give him _one fucking black eye_ and you use that to get Carlos and Ebon on your side when you know I could have fucking killed Hawkins if I wanted to." Francis took a breath. "But I didn't. You just made it seem like what I'd done was cause enough for a throwdown. The Bang was your fault, I couldn't let you call me out like that but I had no idea every gang in the city would be there or else I never would have shown up. I _never_ would have led my crew into a massacre like that."

Francis grinned, but it was twisted with irony. "You think your crew had it bad. At least Shiv lived. My whole crew died that night because _I _brought them there. But you don't see me running around slicing people up, do you?"

Wade frowned. "Deny it all you want_ Francis_. The Bang was your fault, and I'm going to make you pay."

"How?" Francis asked. "You got nothin'."

Wade grinned in a way that said 'I know something you don't know'. "I'm paranoid. Of course you already knew that but what you don't know is I planted some goodies around just in case you did ever find your way here."

"Goodies.." Francis breathed out.

Wade reached into his pocket and pulled out a remote, he pressed one button.

"EVERYONE DOWN!" Batman roared, pulling Jesse to the ground and covering his small body with his own. Francis dropped as well but it didn't make any difference. The whole building erupted.

Francis went flying into the water outside the building, shards of the warehouse piercing the water around him.

Jesse was torn from Batman's grip and landed on the cement sidewalk outside. His leg ended up pinned beneath him and Jesse heard the crack of his bone breaking. He screamed and then passed out, the pain too much for him to handle.

Batman and Static were both blasted the same way, right into the sea wall. The air rushed out his chest when he hit, but Static was more concerend about Gear, who had rolled to a stop near his feet, leaving a trail of crimson blood behind him.

Wade had grasped hold of a pipe on the wall in preperation of the blast and was only dazed, with minor scratches from debris. He picked his way out of the building and wrenched the sewer grate out of the ground. Now was the time for retreat, while the heroes were all out for the count.

A splashing drew Wade's attention. he looked up and saw Francis in the bay, pulling himself up to the dock. Wade frowned and considered the possibilities. It would be easy for him to kill Francis now. Then Batman shifted and kicked a chunk of plaster off of him. Wade shook his head, now it was complicated. He wasn't ready to tangle with the Dark Knight.

Wade stepped down, putting one foot carefully on the first rung when he heard a small whimper. There, within reaching distance, was F-Stop's brat. Out cold and hurt by the looks of it. Wade grinned and grabbed Jesse' foot, pulling him towards the sewer. The game wasn't over yet, and Wade still held the advantage.

**Authror's Note:**

Yikes. That ended up being a lot more brutal than I had orginally planned for it to be. I hope the action was sufficient, I was a little unhappy with the first half of the chapter. Wade's such an asshole. I realize that now. He _was_ the one to call Francis to the Bang wasn't he. Because of Virgil supposedly but that seems a little much for one black eye, am I right? Seems like Francis has been holding onto a lot of guilt over the years, that venting probably felt great. Don't worry, Gear's not dead...yet. No promises for what happens in the next chapter though.

Someone asked so here it is. Wade's powers are he can shoot spikes, really sharp ones, out of anywhere on his body. His physical appearnce changed too, he's bigger and his skin is a swirling mixture of black, white, gray, and purple. Kind of how marbe looks to get more specific. Everyone must PLEASE REVIEW! C'mon, I know you can do it.


	10. Chapter 10: Licking Their Wounds

Disclaimer: I happen to own a pencil, but not Hotstreak...if only (sigh)

**Chapter Nine: Licking Their Wounds**

Francis pulled himself up the dock and then collapsed onto the rotting planks, drawing in deep ragged breaths and wincing when his ribs protested. His leg had gone numb now and his shoulder gave off a dull throbbing, the pain was the only thing keeping him awake at this point. Slowly, Francis lifted his head and surveyed the damage Wade's explosive had left behind.

The warehouse was little more than rubble, there was only one wall left relatively intact and the docks were strewn with bits of concrete and glass.

Francis sighed and raised himself to his knees, coughing up blood and water as he did so. Grimacing, Francis put a hand to his chest and stumbled to his feet, clenching his teeth.

"_Gear!_"

Francis looked up suddenly, the movement made his head hurt. Static shoved pieces of plaster off of himself and then dropped to his knees beside his partner, looking terrified. Batman was right beside the two in a moment. Francis frowned...hadn't Batman been holding Jesse when the bomb went off?

Batman looked up and saw Francis standing, or swaying more like, a few feet away and he walked away from Static and Gear to help the pyro. Francis shoved his helping hand away. "Where's Jesse?" He demanded.

Batman looked away. "I saw Wade take him. I'm sorry Francis, but we have to tend to Gear now. If we went after Wade in this state, someone would end up dead."

Francis looked crestfallen and didn't protest again when Batman slipped an arm around his back and helped him walk over to Static who was trying to wake Gear up.

"Gear. Please bro, please..." Static pleaded.

"Shu' up V." Gear mumbled, his eyes fluttering. "Hurtin' my head."

Static almost cried with relief. "You're not dead. Oh god...I thought. But you're not." Static looked up at Batman with teary eyes. "He's alright."

Batman knelt beside Gear and put one hand gently against his neck, feeling for a pulse. "For now he is. His pulse is weakening. We have to get him help now. Let's go to the hospital..."

"No." Static interrupted, putting one hand behind Gear's back and lifting him into a sitting position. Gear's face screwed up in pain but only a faint whimper escaped his lips. "The hospital's too far away. My pops' house is closer and Daisy's there."

"Static, I don't think..."

Static shook his head. "No listen. Gear's losing blood fast and my pops has a fully stocked medical kit in case I ever came home injured. It has everything we need right now and we can move Gear to a hospital once he's stabilized."

"Fine, but I was going to ask if you wanted to reveal your identity to Francis like this." Batman nodded towards Francis, who had sunk to the ground beside them, staring at Gear with tired eyes.

"I could close my eyes." Francis offered with a half-hearted grin.

Static paused and closed his eyes, mulling over the situation. "No, Gear's more important. Let's go."

Batman helped Static lift Gear and then he called his jet down from the clouds with a remote. "I'll take Gear in the jet, it's far safer. Take Francis on your disc but watch him, he's not in great condition either."

Francis nodded his head in agreement but he had gone strangely silent.

Static watched Batman take off and the he turned to Francis. "Ok, get on." He unfolded his disc and magnetized it into the air.

* * *

Robert Hawkins was sleeping soundly in his bed. His daughter and her husband in the room across the hall and their two children nestled in sleeping bags at the foot of their bed. His son's girlfriend was sleeping in the guest room. None of them expected to be woken by a phone ringing. Not at three in the morning at any rate. 

Robert stumbled sleepily out of his bedroom and down the stairs, picking up the phone in the kitchen. "Hello?"

"Pops! Sorry to wake you but this is an emergency. Wake Daisy up and get out that first-aid kit you've got. We'll be there in a few minutes." His son Virgil's panicked voice came out of the receiver, his words coming fast.

Robert was fully awake now. "Who's hurt? Virgil, are you alright?"

"I'm fine but it's Gear who's in trouble. Oh...and keep Taylor and Devin away, they don't need to see this." Virgil hung up.

Robert stood in the kitchen, holding the phone in one hand and rubbing his forehead with the other. Then he went to go get Daisy, who was standing at the top of the stairs with Sharon and Adam.

"What's wrong?" She asked. The look on Robert's face was enough to have all three of them worried for the life of their friends.

"Richie's hurt. They're bringing him here. Daisy, Virgil says they need you're help." Robert said heavily.

Daisy nodded and returned to her bedroom to get dressed. Sharon looked alarmed. "_They_? Is Hotstreak coming here?"

Robert shook his head. "Virgil didn't say. He did say to keep the kids upstairs however."

"Maybe I can help." Adam offered, coming down the stairs.

"From what it sounds like, they could use all the help they can get." Robert clapped his son-in-law on the shoulder. "Let's clear away an area on the couch for Richie, we'll also need blankets and some water I'm sure."

* * *

Virgil landed on the stoop of his father's home and jumped off the disc, Francis descended far more carefully and leant against the doorframe, holding his chest. Static looked at him. "What you're going to find out right now _must_ remian a secret." He said sternly. 

"Yeah, I understand." Francis said.

The jet landed behind them and Static went to help Batman unload Gear, who had broken out into a sweat. "Quickly." Batman grunted, holding Gear's feet. Static maneuvered the stairs while holding Gear's upper half and knocked at the door.

Within moments Robert opened the door and stepped aside to let Static and Batman rush inside. Francis followed after slowly.

"Here." Daisy was waiting for them and they set Gear on the couch. Daisy pulled out a knife and cut away Gear's shirt to get better access at the wound in his stomach. She looked at it for a moment , and then at Static. "It's a lot better than it could've been. He hasn't lost too much blood, I can stitch this up easily enough but he'll need a transfusion soon."

Static nodded. "I'll do it. We have the same blood type."

Daisy smiled and reached for the first-aid kit, pulling out disenfectant and bandages. Daisy wiped away the blood with a wet cloth and then she closed the wound cleanly and quickly.

"You're next." Daisy pointed at Franics who had sprawled across an armchair.

She went to the kitchen to wash her hands of blood and returned, kneeling by the chair. "Sit up." She commanded.

Francis did so, slowly and clearly painfully. Daisy frowned. "Shirt off."

Francis pulled his shirt up and over his head, wincing as blood from his shoulder that had dried on his shirt was torn away, starting a fresh blood flow. Daisy frowned again at the bruises on his chest and she put a hand on his side and gently pressed. Francis hissed and jerked away. "Don't do that." He muttered.

"Re-injured your ribs. Now they'll just heal slower." Daisy noticed the blood caked on his shoulder and jeans. "Off." She pointed at his pants. Francis blushed and hesitated. Daisy rolled her eyes. "Oh c'mon. Don't tell me you're shy. I'm a doctor, this is my job."

Francis sighed and unbuckled his belt, pulling the jeans down his legs. Daisy touched the wound in his thigh gently. "Okay, more stitches. Adam hand me the bandages please."

Francis looked up and saw a vaguely familiar person holding a roll of white bandages. "Hey Evans." He nodded.

"F." Adam returned the nod with a small grin. "Not looking too good."

"Are you friends with him?" Sharon asked, coming down the stairs. Then she saw Francis in his boxers. "Oh...um."

Adam laughed and went over to his wife. "Not friends really...acquaintances more like. Back in Dakota I knew him through my brother."

Static was standing over Gear, looking worried. "Is he going to be okay?"

Daisy looked over. "Yes. He'll be okay, the wound really wasn't that bad. It was just blood loss and shock that got him. His temperature's gone down and he's stopped sweating. He'll be fine." She turned back to Francis and touched his shoulder. "Stitches here too. You must really like needles."

"No actually, I don't. I hate them." Francis said, glaring at the needle in her hand.

Daisy smiled reassuringly and turned him slightly to the side to get a better look at the injury.

Static sighed in relief and ran a hand through his dreadlocks. And then he pulled his mask off.

Francis looked up, and then jerked involuntarily. Daisy caught his arm and held it still. "No way. Hawkins?"

Sharon smacked her brother on the head. "What did you do that for?!"

Virgil rubbed his head and scowled at his sister. "He would have found out anyway. Besides, his wife already knows who I am."

"She does?" Francis asked confusedly and then looked at Sharon. "Oh, and you're that probation officer. Didn't you work with Dule?"

Sharon started, and then looked surprised. "Yes I did. You have a good memory."

Francis shrugged, and then winced. Daisy touched his shoulder to remind him. "Yeah, don't do that."

Francis looked back at Virgil. "You're Hawkins. And what I said tonight..." Francis trailed off, dearly regretting his outburst to Wade now that his childhood victim was standing in front of him.

Virgil smiled. "It's okay. It was stupid of me to get so mad over one black eye, right?"

Francis nodded gratefully. "Soooo, you're the one who kicked my ass up and down the streets of Dakota daily?"

Static smirked. "Yup. And you have no idea how good it felt."

"I'll get coffee." Robert stood and walked into the kitchen. "I'll help Daddy." Sharon followed after him and a few minutes later they came back with a tray and several cups. "Help yourself." Robert invited and settled into another chair, taking his mug with him.

"Can I put my pants back on?" Francis sat forward stiffly to grab his jeans.

"Yes. Shirt stays off though, I don't want you hurting those ribs even more. Sit at still as you can and don't move too much until I have the chance to set them." Daisy said while stirring her own mug and fixing one for Virgil who was reclining on the floor, relaxed now that Gear was out of danger.

The group sat in silence for a moment, taking in the oddity of the situation and enjoying their coffee. Suddenly, Batman stood. "I'm going back." He said brusquely and headed for the door. "I'll stop by tomorrow." He said as an afterthought and then left.

"He's a weird guy isn't he?" Francis said, staring at the door.

"He's not very friendly until you get to know him." Virgil supplied knowingly.

Daisy snapped her fingers loudly, drawing everyone's attention. She pointed at Francis. "Since you know Virgil's Static, which is the biggest secret he has, it's only fair that you tell us a secret of your own in return."

Francis raised one eyebrow skeptically. "A secret trade? I'm afraid I don't have any secrets." He turned away and sipped from his mug.

"That's bull." All eyes went to Virgil. "It doesn't have to be big one, c'mon!"

"Yeah, just a little one F." Adam nudged him gently with a grin.

"What kind of secret though?" Francis asked looking confused. He sat still for a moment contemplating and then his face brightened. "You told me your real name, so I'll tell you mine."

Virgil frowned. "We already know your name is Francis. Something else."

Francis waved his hand, dismissing the fact, and smirked. "Francis isn't my real name."

_That_ got eveyone's attention. "It's not!?" Virgil asked, flabbergasted.

"What is it?" Daisy asked, delighted her game was paying off.

"I'll tell you, but you have to promise that this doesn't leave this room." Francis said seriously. Everyone nodded in agreement and leant forward expectantly. Francis sighed. "Okay, first off, you should know I'm Italian. I was born there and moved to the U.S when I was seven."

"But you don't have an accent." Sharon pointed out.

Francis waved his hand dismissively again. "I lost the accent. Good thing too, Wade never left me alone about it. Neither did your brother." Francis nodded at Adam.

"I apologize for him. Get on with it." Adam said impatiently.

"My real name is Francisco Bennet Stone." Francis said quickly and grimaced as the words left his mouth.

The whole room went silent for a minute until Virgil snorted and clapped a hand over his mouth to stop himself from laughing.

Daisy leant backwards against the couch and smiled at the ceiling. "Francisco.. That's the greatest thing I've ever heard."

Adam just outright laughed and Sharon slapped his arm. "Be nice." She scolded.

Francis blushed but continued speaking after it had quieted down again. "When we moved here...my mom wantd to Amercanize my name, thought it would be easier for school I guess. She just never changed it legally. I have know idea where Bennet comes from." Robert nodded as if it made sense and took another sip of coffee.

"If you were born in Italy, are you fluent?" Daisy asked.

Francis nodded. "It was my first language."

"Say something!" Virgil said eagerly.

"Why?"

"Just do it!"

Francis sighed and blew a lock of red hair out of his eyes. "Voi non vi arresterete fino a che non, imbroglierete?"

Virgil sat back, mouth agape. "That's so cool. I can only speak a little Spanish."

"What did you say?" Adam asked.

Francis smirked slightly but hid it behind his mug. "That's another secret isn't it. I only promised to reveal one."

* * *

Sharon walked quietly downstairs and poked her head into the living room. The furniture and walls looked gray in the early morning light and there were bodies lying all over the floor. It was hard to tell which lump was Francis or Virgil but the lump on the couch was obviously Richie. He had woken up once in the night but had gone back to sleep after Daisy gave him some pain medication. The color was starting to return to his face but he was still almost as pale as his hair and would need donor blood in a few hours. 

One lump turned over on their side and Sharon saw it was Francis, lying with one arm under his head and the other wrapped around his chest. There was a small wince as the movement pulled at his ribs and then his face smoothed over again. Sharon moved forward, walking on tiptoes over the carpet and pulled one of the blankets, the other was hopelessly entangled around his legs, back up over Francis' chest where it had fallen from. Francis stirred again and rolled over onto his stomach, pulling the blanket with him.

Sharon smiled and moved onto her baby brother. Vigil was sleeping on his back, one arm draped across his eyes and his mouth widening with every snore. Sharon moved away some empty mugs from Virgil's head before he rolled into them and carried them into the kitchen. As she washed them at the sink, she yawned. Last night after everyone had finally gone back to bed around four 'o clock, Sharon had tossed and turned fitfully until she gave in to the morning.

Sharon turned, stretching her back at the same time, and gave little yelp. Francis was sitting at the table watching her serenely. "Mornin'." He said and rubbed a hand through his sleep-mussed hair. It had fallen out of its usual spikes and now went out in every direction from his head, some falling across his face.

"Good morning." Sharon said and reached for the coffee-maker. "I didn't know you were an early-riser."

"I'm not, but once I'm awake, I'm awake for good." Francis said and took the mug offered to him.

Sharon sat down opposite him. "What woke you?"

"You." Francis said simply.

"Oh...I'm sorry. I didn't mean to..."

Francis raised a hand to stop her. "It's cool, I'm a light sleeper. Besides, I was going to look for those pain pills Daisy gave Gear...I mean Richie...last night anyway."

"Are you in pain?"

Francis raised an eyebrow at her as if to say, well that's what pain pills are for. "My shoulder's killing me. Can't feel my leg actually, not sure if that's good or bad."

Sharon stood to get the bottle of pills and came back, handing them across the table to Francis who popped the cap and swallowed two. "No water?" She asked with a small grin.

Francis shrugged, and grimaced, grabbing his shoulder. "Not necessary."

"What about your ribs?" Sharon asked, knowing they had pained the pyro last night.

Francis stretched. "Not too bad. I could deal with it."

Sharon sighed. "Men never want to admit when they're hurt."

Francis opened his mouth to protest when a little voice cut him off. "Mommy, Uncle Virgil is sleeping on the _floor._" Both Sharon and Francis looked to the doorway and saw Taylor standing there in her pajamas, holding Devin's hand who was still looking behind him into the living room with awe at his uncle.

"What are you two doing up?" Sharon asked, in a dramatized whisper. Taylor and Devin took the hint and started whispering too.

"We're not sleepy anymore." Taylor explained.

"Perfectly logical." Francis pointed out, sipping his coffee.

Sharon rolled her eys. "Okay, but you both have to be super quiet until everyone else gets up, alright?" They both whispered alright and climbed into chairs at the table. Devin, who sat next to Francis, looked extremely troubled and pointed at Francis' bandaged shoulder and face with a quivering finger. His eyes welled up with tears.

"Mooooom. He's doing it again." Taylor whispered.

Sharon picked up Devin and walked him around the ktichen. "It's okay baby. Francis is just a little hurt. Just a boo boo. Right Francis, you're okay." Sharon said over Devin's head, looking right at Francis.

"Right. I'm fine." Francis said, playing along.

"You see? Just a boo boo." Sharon tickled Devin in the side and he laughed, squirming out of her grasp and back to the table.

He pointed at Francis. "Just a boo boo." He said loudly, to reassure himself, and then joined his sister in eating cereal.

Francis stood and walked over to Sharon, limped actually. "What was that?" He whispered.

Sharon sighed. "Devin is a little sensitive. He hates it whenever anyone gets hurt, even on television, and we have to assure him that it's alright or else he starts to cry. It's a good thing I suppose, he's very perceptive of emotions."

"Oh, okay." Francis went back to his seat and helped himself to the cereal the kids were eating. Taylor looked up at him curiously. "You look familiar." She said finally.

"Oh yeah?" Francis said with a smile. "Where from do you think?"

Taylor considered the question for a moment. "School, maybe. Or TV." She thought about it for a few more minutes until her eyes brightened and she stood up on her chair. "You're Frankie Stone!" She yelled pointing at Francis.

Devin dropped his spoon. "Skateboarder!" He yelled.

"You came to my school to skateboard _and_ I saw you on TV. What happened to your hair? It used to be blond." Taylor asked leaning across the table and touching Francis' hair.

"What did I say about being quiet?" Sharon said sternly, and then she registered what her kids were saying. "You're a professional skateboarder?"

Francis smiled sheepishly. "Yeah, kind of." He looked at Taylor. "What school do you go to?"

"Edison Elementary. All the kids at my school like you." Taylor continued. She stopped and gasped. "Could you skateboard for us here?! Oh, mommy wouldn't that be so awesome?" Devin clapped his hands enthusiastically in agreement.

"Taylor, Francis is a little..." She looked at Devin. "...unwell at the moment. Maybe some day he will."

"Sure I will." Francis said with a large grin at both the kids. "Did you know that you go to the same school as my son?" Francis asked and his smile wavered as his thoughts drifted back to his son. Sharon put a hand comfortingly on his wrist but Francis shook it off and stood up, the grin back in place. "I'm going to go wake your uncle up unpleasantly." He took a handful of dry cereal and hobbled back into the living room.

"I wanna go watch." Taylor said and hopped of her chair, following Francis. Devin stared after his sister and then started eating her cereal. Sharon rolled her eyes and made more coffee. No doubt Virgil would want some in a moment.

* * *

Wade hit the slimy wall angrily. "Stupid fucking F-stop and his stupid fucking hero friends!" He hissed and punched the wall again. Drips of water fell from the low ceiling and splashed over Wade's body. He howled in anger and turned away from the sewer wall, wiping droplets from his face. 

He looked at the brat, sitting on the wet floor hugging his knees to his chest and watching Wade with wide, fearfull eyes. Wade nudged the boy's leg with his foot and Jesse screamed, jerking away from Wade and holding his leg with both hands. Tears streamed own his face, leaving clean pink streaks behind on his dirt-coated cheeks.

Wade grabbed a hold of Jesse's shirt and pulled the boy up off his feet. He glared at him for a moment and then threw him back to the ground. Jesse shrank back against the wall. "It's partly your fault brat. I hope you know that." Wade turned away with a sick grin on his face that Jesse had come to fear. "I'll make sure you pay for your part in this mess, just as soon as a I tear your fucking dad apart, limb from fucking limb."

**Author's Note:**

Ooooh boy. Poor Jesse. Looks like Wade's come unhinged. This chapter was supposed to be fluffy fun. Gear's injury wasn't as bad as Static had thought it was...to explain the quickness with which Daisy fixed. him. That and I'm no doctor so I have no idea how someone would go about fixing something like that.

An idea that's been in my head for ages is that Francis is Italian. Francis...Francisco. There are similarities there, am I right? And of course he speaks Italian. Men who speak other languages are sexy. Mmmmmmm... Also, Francis gets along with kids so well because he is a kid at heart, gotta love him. And wasn't Devin cute?

P.S Francis was just saying, "You won't leave me alone until I do, will you fool?" In response to Virgil asking him to speak in Italian.

PLEASE REVIEW!


	11. Chapter 11: The Warning Bell Sounds

Disclaimer: Once again, me no own.

**Chapter Eleven: The Warning Bell Sounds **

Virgil ignored his cereal and continued glaring across the table at Francis, who meanwhile was busy staring interestingly at his own bowl of Fruit Loops. Devin poked his uncle in the side with his spoon. "What're you looking at Uncle V?"

"Him." Virgil growled and pointed at Francis with his spoon, clenched tightly in his fist.

Francis raised a hand to his chest and looked offended. "Me? But I have been nothing but golden." He said with mock surprise.

Virgil scoffed loudly and shoved a big spoonful of loops in his mouth, chewing angrily. "Golden. Ha!"

Sharon smacked her brother lightly on the arm as she walked by with a cup of coffee for Adam. "You're just mad because everyone laughed at you." She said with a knowing smile.

Francis grinned, obviously delighted with himself and spooned the last of his cereal into his mouth.

Devin laughed as if to prove his mother's point. "Yeah, you were real funny."

Virgil scowled but didn't say anything else because all those in the kitchen had stared laughing at him. Or at least snickering behind their hands.

Francis pushed back his cereal bowl and leaned back in the chair, stretching until he heard his back crack several times. Sharon shuddered at the noise. "Uch, that's disgusting." Francis merely smirked slightly and cracked his neck as well.

Robert came into the kitchen, holding several clothing items in his arms. He set them on the table and sorted through them while everyone else in the kitchen looked on in silence. "Umm...Pops? What are you doing?" Virgil finally asked, as his father pulled a pair of green khaki pants from the pile triumphantly.

"Francis needs clothes. His jeans, shirt, and sweatshirt are all torn up." He explained matter-of-factly and handed the pants over to Francis. "Those _should_ fit."

"Uh, thanks. I guess." Francis said uncertainly, holding the pants aloft. He was quickly given a button-up black shirt and a gray t-shirt as well.

Daisy came into the kitchen and waved off the cup of coffee offered to her by Adam. "Batman just got here so we're ready to move Richie to the hospital. You too, Smoky. Bring the clothes, you can get dressed there." She said, pointing at both Virgil and Francis. Both men got up and followed her out to the jet, which was waiting outside with Batman at the wheel.

* * *

At the hospital, Daisy took over. She had paramedics bring Richie, back in his Gear uniform to shield his identity, into the ER and then had him admitted into a private room, calling together her interns to watch him while she set Francis up in a room across the hall. 

In a few minutes, Francis was sitting on the edge of his bed, pulling on the new khaki pants and waiting for Daisy to come back in to fix his ribs.

Instead, Static came in and pulled up an orange plastic chair in the corner of the room. They stared at each other for a minute or two and then Francis turned to look out the window, extremely uncomfortable.

"They're giving Rich a better bandaging and the new blood." Static said, to fill the gaping silence. He held up his arm to show a band-aid on his bicep. "I was feeling dizzy so Daisy said to come sit in here for a while." He explained.

Francis nodded, still silent.

"You know we will get Jesse back for you, right?"

Francis looked up sharply and frowned in confusion. "Why're you...listen can we talk about this later?"

"I know we were close, so close to having him. Things...things don't always go as planned." Static continued.

"Seriously, shut up." Francis came close to snarling.

"Don't be like that." Static continued.

"Like what? Like a father who can't even look after his own kid?" Francis stood suddenly and grimaced, doubling over in pain. Static put a hand on his good shoulder to steady him. Francis shrugged it off and looked at Static with anger in his green eyes. "Just leave it okay?"

"Yeah." Static watched Francis sit back down with concern and dropped the topic entirely. Luckily, Daisy came into the room followed by two interns and broke up the intensity.

"Why are you sweating?" She asked Francis and put a hand on his forehead. "You've got an elevated temperature. What've you been doing?" She looked first at Francis and then Static for an answer. Neither of them answered.

Daisy sighed. "Fine, Kevin get me a rib cage protector and Carol, prepare for a CT Scan." Daisy wrote something on a clipboard and handed it to Carol, who left the room..

"What's the scan for?" Francis asked.

"Just to make sure nothing else is wrong in your chest. By the way, I was looking over your medical file and you have quiet an extensive history." Daisy said with an accusatory tone.

Francis winced, and not because of his ribs. "Yeah."

"Now I get why you don't like needles." Daisy continued. "But I won't tell anyone if you don't want me to. Patient-doctor confedentiality and all that."

Francis looked stunned and then he grinned. "You've got yourself a keeper." He winked at Static. "A girl who can keep a secret."

"Can't Theresa keep a secret?" Daisy asked.

"No." The pryo responded bluntly.

"Gear's doing fine by the way." Daisy added to Static, who perked up immediately. "The blood transfuison went off without a hitch and he's sleeping now. I want him to stay in the hospital for at least two weeks to watch for infection, is that clear?" She added, knowing that Virgil would want his partner and best friend by his side and Richie would want the same thing.

"Crystal babe." Static smiled. "I don't want Gear getting hurt again."

Carol, the intern, popper her head back into the room. "Dr. Cervais says he's ready for the scan now."

Daisy snapped at Francis. "Let's go Smoky." Francis stood and frowned at the nickname. "You've really got to stop calling me that." He muttered as he followed her out of the room and into the hallway, leaving Static behind. Daisy smiled at him over her shoulder. "Well Francisco, Francis, Frankie, F-Stop, Hotstreak. What would you like me to call you?"

Francis winced at all but two names and he rubbed the back of his neck uncomfortably as he scanned the halls for anyone who might have heard the first. "Frankie I guess. Frankie's good for right now."

Daisy wrinkled her nose. "Nah, I'll call you Francis."

Francis raised an eyebrow. "You're not even going to listen to my answer to a question that _you_ asked."

"I took your opinion into consideration, and then chose an answer for myself. You should really think about choosing one specific alias to stick with. It's rather confusing." Daisy said lightly with a teasing smile and herded Francis into the lab ahead of her. "Lay down on there and we'll start in just a moment. I hope you'e not claustrophobic."

Francis settled onto the metal gurney and the machine started, sending him into a cocoon like machine. "Nah. Theresa is though, wouldn't even get on a subway."

* * *

Later that afternoon, everyone was crammed into Gear's room. Static sitting on the egde of his best friend's bed, Francis lounging half asleep in another plastic chair, Batman standing with his back to the room staring out the window, and Daisy looking over charts by the doorway. 

"Can I go see Theresa?" Francis asked, sitting forward and rubbing his eyes.

Static looked up. "Yeah, I'll take you. C'mon."

"I do remember where her room is y'know." Francis complained, tugging at the rib cage protector Daisy had given him beneath his shirts. "Still don't trust me?"

"I trust you enough. I just want to tell her something."

Once again the two walked in silence, but this time the silence was a comfortable one. Francis walked into the room first and a huge grin split his face as his wife looked up at him from a book.

"Hey baby." She smiled and marked her place, patting the bed beside her. Francis took the invitation and sat carefully on the edge of her bed, looking at her bandaged arm with guilty eyes.

"You should never have gotten hurt. You or Jesse." He said quietly.

Theresa reached forward and tapped the bandage creeping out from beneath his own shirt. "Didn't I tell you to be careful?" She asked.

"I tried. Wade's insane T. I can't reason with him at all. Gear got hurt, Jesse's hurt and he's still with that psycho. I could've had him..." Francis muttered, his brow furrowing in annoyance and anger.

Theresa's hand moved from his arm to his face and she cupped his chin, pulling his face towards her. "None of this is your fault mi amor. You can't blame yourself and you _cannot_ doubt yourself." She said sternly.

Francis averted his gaze and pouted slightly. Theresa shook his head gently, still holding his face. "_I _don't doubt for a minute that you will get Jesse back for me. I trust you completely so trust yourself too, okay baby?"

Francis just barely nodded and Theresa pulled him closer, kissing the pout away. "Better?" She asked, knowing Francis had been struggling with something.

Francis nodded again and Theresa released him, a smirk forming on her own lips.

"Um, hi." Static said awkwardly, not sure if he wanted to invade their private moment or not, and wishing now that he had let Francis come alone. Both of them looked up and Francis flushed bright red. He had obviously forgotten that Static was even there.

"Hey Sparky." Theresa greeted him happily, not showing any signs of embarassment. "How's your partner?"

Static smiled and stepped forward. "He's fine. I just wanted to let you know that you don't have to keep my identity a seceret, Francis already knows."

She raised one eyebrow at her husband. "Does he now. Surprised dearest?"

"A bit." Francis shrugged and looked at Static. "It really should have been easier to figure out. I was probably the last person to see you at the docks before the gas went off and how many fourteen-year-olds with _that_ hair could there have been at the Bang?"

"Are _you_ making fun of _my_ hair? At least dreads are a style, your hair just looks liks your head is on fire." Static pointed out, gesturing at Francis' spiked red and blond locks.

"I love his spikes," Theresa said fondly and ran a hand through them to prove her point. Francis blushed deeper but didn't pull away.

Static grinned. "Yeah, well. I'll leave now. Just come back to the room when you're done." He turned and left, shutting the door behind him.

Theresa pulled on Francis' button-up shirt and he leaned backwards against her. "Yes?" He asked teasingly.

"Can I say hello properly?" She whispered in his hear. Francis grinned.

* * *

It had been a week. A week without injuries, without sudden attacks from Wade, without word of Jesse, and without any more leads on where Wade could be hiding. For Francis, it had been an unbearable week, passing by with excruciating slowness. Fortunately, the uneventful week had allowed him to recover from most of his injuries. Bruises and cuts were fading, turning from shocking blue to dull browns and yellows and everyday Daisy looked him over. Yesterday she removed the bandaging from around his thigh. 

Virgil, seemed to notice none of his new ally's anxiety. He passed the week away visiting Gear, still confined to the hospital, and exercising. After a rousing session of pullups and pushups in his bedroom, Virgil clomped down the stairs shirtless and with a towel around his neck, a grin on his face and sweat on his forehead. "I feel great!" He exclaimed coming into the kitchen and clapping Adam on the back. "You should really work out with me. It feels great." He went to the sink and poured himself a glass of water, leaning against the cool countertop.

"Are you implying that I'm out of shape?" Adam asked with a raised eyebrow.

"No, no. Physique's looking good." Virgil said with a smile.

"Yeah right." Sharon said, coming up behind her husband and squeezing two little flabs of skin on his side. Adam yelped and jumped out of her grasp. "You could do with losing that tire around your waist."

Adam frowned and pinched his side. "Tire?"

Virgil laughed and looked around the kitchen. Devin was happily coloring at the table, showing Robert the proper way to draw a sailboat. "Where's Francis?" He asked suddenly.

"I haven't seen him for a while. I figured he was being all manly man with you." Sharon said.

Robert looked up briefly from his tutorial. "He's outside. He found Virgil's old skateboard in the basement and took it out into the street, I think Taylor went with him."

"Outside?" Virgil said. "He's not supposed to go outside without me or Batman."

Robert shrugged and picked up the blue crayon. Devin immediately took it away from him and handed him a purple one instead. "Purple's better." He explained and bent over his picture. Robert smacked his forehead. "Of course purple, how silly of me."

* * *

"Do a kickflip again!" Taylor shouted from the stoop. 

"Again? I just did three in a row." Francis grinned from the street. Luckily it wasn't a very busy street, he had yet to see a car pass by.

"Yes again, it's my favorite one." Taylor explained, pouting slightly.

"Okay." Francis put his foot down on the cement and pushed himself forward, gaining a little bit of speed. He jumped into an Ollie and then flicked the skateboard with his foot, so it spun underneath him in midair. Francis landed back on the board with both feet and glided past the delighted Taylor.

"Good one."

Francis looked up and saw Virgil in the doorway, his arms crossed and a disapproving look on his face.

"Hey." He said slowly, skidding to a stop.

"Do you really think skateboarding is good for you right now?" Virgil asked.

"My leg doesn't hurt at all." Francis tried to explain.

"Your ribs?"

"Listen Sparky, I'm fine."

"Yeah Uncle Virgil, you should see him grind." Taylor tugged at her uncle's sweatpants. "It is called grind right?" She asked Francis quietly.

Francis laughed. "Yes it's grind." Virgil wasn't amused. He jumped down the stairs and walked over to Francis. "I really don't think this is a good idea."

Francis sighed. "How do you vent Virgil?"

Virgil looked taken aback by the question. "I go flying." He said slowly, not sure where this was going.

Francis stepped on the back of the skateboard and it flipped into his hand. "Yeah, well I skate." His voice dropped so only Virgil could hear his next words. "Do you remember at Alva's island when I told you I was in a hospital for two years?" Virgil nodded, he had been reminded of it when Daisy had commented on Francis' extensive medical history a week ago. "I was in a bad accident, internal complications and all that shit but my leg was busted too. When I had to do physical therapy, my doctor recommended skateboarding. This helped me, it doesn't hurt when I skate so please...just let me skate."

Virgil mulled over the revelation in his head. "Yeah. I just wasn't sure."

Francis grinned. "Cool, and don't tell anyone okay. Theresa doesn't even know about it."

"Okay." Virgil nodded and headed back for the house.

"And Virgil?" He turned halfway up the stairs. Francis held up the skateboard. "This board is awful."

Virgil shrugged. "I was eight and tried it for two months. I got that at Toy's 'R Us for twenty bucks. It's more plastic than wood." He pointed at a bike rack across the street. "Let's see that grind."

* * *

"What do you think would be the best way to murder your dear father?" Wade asked conversationally, plucking a cobweb out of his path. 

Jesse remained silent, sitting against a dusty, lumpy old sofa, his broken leg splayed out in front of him. Last night Wade had dragged him into this old apartment, cordoned off for being unstable along with the rest of the rickety old building. He knew better by now than to answer any of Wade's probing questions.

Wade's eyes flashed with anger for a moment as he looked the boy over. Dirty and bruised, his leg swollen and miscolored, and his clothes were more raggedy than anything else. "Should I rip through his throat? No, that would be too quick." Wade grinned with sick enjoyment, watching as Jesse's face paled. "Maybe I could tear him apart from his stomach, just making the hole larger and larger until he splits in two."

Jesse gulped and looked away nervously.

Wade strode forward and clenched the boy's face in one huge hand. "I _could_ just leave your body for him to find." A spike shot out of his hand, cutting into Jesse's cheek.

Jesse gasped and jerked backwards. Wade's grin widened. "No, no. I don't want to risk getting caught before I can kill F-Stop. But don't worry, you'll follow after him quickly enough." He released Jesse, wiping a finger across the blood stain. "You can watch him die."

Jesse's face screwed up in anger and he kicked out with his good leg. Wade, off-balance in his kneeling position, took the kick in the stomach and teetered backwards. Fortunately for Jesse, the apartment had been cordoned for a reason. Wade's heavy body smacked into the rotting floor and it collapsed beneath his weight. Wade fell through to the floor below and landed on a kitchen counter in a huge cloud of dust.

Jesse scrambled to his feet and limped to the window. He looked out and grinned, there was a fire escape. He pushed the window open just wide enough for his skinny frame to slip out. Jesse yelped when his leg caught on the window ledge and set off, limping as fast as he could down the slick ladders, knowing that Wade would be after him shortly.

On the street, he looked around wildly for anyone who could help him. Behind him he heard a roar of anger and he knew Wade was coming. Jesse limped down the street, looking for someone, anyone...and then he saw a familiar sight. A large apartment building loomed over the street, and even better, Jesse saw a familiar person walking out of that apartment building.

"_Danny_!" He yelled and staggered over to his dad's friend.

"Jesse?" Danny Taylor took a step back in astonishment and then rushed forward, catching Jesse by the elbow as he stumbled and fell to his knees. "What happened to you? Your leg...where's your dad?"

Jesse clutched at Danny and refused to let go. "He's going to kill me and dad. You can't let him, you have to help me!"

Danny picked Jesse up carefully. "Who?"

Jesse pointed behind him. Danny looked and saw what looked like a man-mountain thundering towards him. "_Shit_."

Wade let out a murderous yell and leapt forward.

Danny staggered backwards and the last thing he saw was razor-sharp spikes shooting through the air at him and Jesse.

**Author's Note:**

Oh wow, a cliff-hanger. I don't do those very often. I usually like to wrap things up cleanly every chapter but that's no fun. What's going to happen to Danny? Is Jesse free of Wade? Will Francis ever be reunited with his family? All these questions, and many more, will be answered in the coming chapters. But you all HAVE TO REVIEW! Please, you make me sad when you don't.


	12. Chapter 12: A Cloud of Guilt

Disclaimer: blah blah blah, no own

**Chapter Twelve: A Cloud of Guilt**

Francis burst through the doors of Danny's room as fast as his fading limp would let him. He stopped and stared at his friend's chalk-white face, at the tubes trailing away into beeping machines, at the blood staining the bandages all over his body. Francis felt his breath leave him and he leant against the doorway, gasping for breath and feeling sick.

Virgil came in behind him and put a hand on his shoulder, steering him out of the room with a worried face. 'It's not your fault." He murmured into the pyro's ear.

Adam came around the corner with a notepad in hand. He held it out to Virgil. "I got the notes from the witnesses like you asked."

Virgil flipped through the quotes of witnesses who had been standing by the entrance to Danny's apartment building or on the street nearby, keeping one eye on Francis who seemed to be falling in on himself.

"Get him outside." He nodded to Adam. Adam took Francis' arm and led him down the hall. Francis seemed dazed and followed quietly, staring at the floor.

Wade had done this, had carved up Danny Taylor like he was a Christmas turkey and left him to die on the street. Virgil clenched his fist in anger, whatever happened, he was going to make sure Wade was thoroughly punished for his inhumanity.

All the witnesses were scared witless, seeing someone impaled before their eyes tended to do that to a person. All of them described Wade perfectly, thundering down the street like a moving mountain. Danny, of course, was identified by his doorman as he was brought into the hospital. What bothered Virgil the most was that Danny had been trying to protect Jesse when he'd been skewered.

Most of the witnesses told police about a little boy with red hair and a broken leg running up to Danny and grabbing him, then Wade had spiked Danny and run off with Jesse.

Worst of all, Francis had fallen apart.

Guilt over Theresa, Jesse, Richie, and now Danny had thrown a dark cloud over Francis and Virgil was worried about how he would react. Face it, Francis didn't have a great record of sound decisions in pressured situations.

Virgil folded the papers into his jean pocket, took one last look at Danny lying still in his bed, shut the door, and walked back to the lobby. Sharon, his father, Adam, and Francis were all sitting in squishy green chairs with varying looks of sadness, sulleness, and guilt. Francis had all three splayed out on his face.

"I think we should go back, can't leave Rich with Taylor and Dev for too long." Virgil joked a little.

Sharon stood and pulled Adam up with her. "Is he going to be okay?"

Virgil looked off towards the doors. "I-I think so." Sharon stepped closer and cupped her hands over Virgil's ears so only he could hear her. "What about our resident Italian?"

Virgil shrugged, avoiding Francis. "I'm not sure."

"I'll be fine." Francis said loudly, looking at the doors and making Virgil jump. "Just as soon as I fucking kill Wade."

"Francis wait...don't get irrational." Virgil stepped forward.

Francis laughed and there was no joy in it. Sharon shivered at the noise. It was a cold, bitter, and ironic sound. "Relax hero, I'm not going to go running off into the night and slay him. I'll wait, I don't want to but I will because Wade will come to me eventually." Francis cracked his neck loudly and started walking away.

"You're going back to my house." Robert said forcefully.

"Where else would I go?" Francis asked with a raised eyebrow. "I'll be back later."

The group watched Francis walk through the sliding doors and vanish into the darkness.

"Well that certainly wasn't good." Daisy said, coming out from behind the reception desk.

Virgil shook his head. "Not good at all."

* * *

It was two in the morning when Francis did get back, Virgil was already asleep on the couch when he walked in but he sat up at the intrusion. "What were you doing?" He asked blearily. 

Francis shot him a look and pulled off his shirt, kicked off his sneakers, and settled down onto the mass of blankets on the floor that had become his bed. "Nothing, walking."

"Don't be an idiot, I was just starting to like you and then you turn into an asshole because of Wade. Don't let him do that to you, I bet he didn't even know who Danny was when he attacked him yesterday and he would be happy...happy Francis, to know he's getting to you like this."

Francis closed his eyes tightly and rolled over so his back was to Virgil.

Virgil sighed and collapsed back onto the couch. "Fine."

The next morning wasn't any better either. Francis left with Virgil's skateboard as soon as he woke up without eating and walked right past Richie and Virgil without saying anything.

For the next two days, Francis hardly said a word to anyone and spent most of the time alone, skateboarding or visiting Danny. It was Devin who finally broke the silence. One morning as Francis had shoved blankets off himself and pulled the same t-shirt he had worn yeterday on over his head, Devin had jumped into his lap. "Have brekfeast with me." Devin said, pulling at Francis' arm.

Sharon hurried over from the kitchen. "Honey, I don't think..."

"Okay." Francis said and got up, slinging Devin over his shoulder like he once had for Jesse. Devin giggled with joy and grabbed onto Francis' shirt as he was carried into the kitchen.

'That's it, just like that you're normal again?" Virgil asked at the table, ignoring his own breakfast and instead staring at Francis as he ate his.

Francis shrugged. "I guess."

"I don't believe that." Richie said.

"I'm not a very complicated guy." Francis said off-handedly. Daisy laughed by the sink where she and Adam were washing dishes.

Richie leaned back in his chair and scratched at the last remaining bandages covering his stomach. "See, now this is the classic case of bottling emotions. Just wait, one day very soon you'll just explode and I guarantee it will be messy and it will come at the very worst time possible."

"You gonna 'plode?" Devin asked next to Francis, staring up at his new friend with wide, scared eyes.

Francis shook his head. "Nah, when I explode it'll be by choice. It'll bring the house down."

Devin laughed, reassured. "Bring da house down!" He shouted, throwing his arms up in the air and spilling milk across the table.

Sharon rolled her eyes. "Thanks Francis, that's a great thing to teach him."

"HEY! THERE'S A LETTER ON THE STOOP!" Taylor called out to the adults from the living room where she was squatting on the couch amidst Virgil's blankets watching cartoons, one eye apparently watching the window.

Robert went to get the letter. "Who would leave a letter on the stoop, the mail slot's not broken." He left the room and everyone went back to their food and conversations. When Robert reappeared a moment later, the look on his face made everything screech to a halt. He held the letter out to Francis. "I think it's for you."

Francis looked at the letter strangely and took it, staring at his name scrawled across the front of the envelope in a messy scribble. Francis ignored the curious eyes of everyone and poped the seal with his thumb, pulling out one sheet of lined paper. He read it silently first, sighed and ran a hand over his tired face, and then read it aloud. "Saturday at one at dock number fifteen. W."

Virgil jumped up. "Wade sent that letter?!"

Richie reached out for the letter and Francis handed it over. "These are blood spots." he said, pointing at several splotches on the paper. "I can test this, find out if it's his, or Jesse's...it could even be Danny's depending on when he wrote it."

"Go for it." Francis said, rubbing the back of his neck.

"He set a time and place for a fight. Does he think you're still in a gang?" Adam asked, reading the letter again over Richie's shoulder.

Francis smiled grimly. "Didn't I tell you he'd find me?""

"Is there anyway we could get to him before Saturday, catch him by surprise and take away his advantage?" Virgil asked, beginning to think like Static.

"Can you test the paper for water? Like if it got damp and where the water was from? Or for dust?" Francis asked, new to the whole crime lab scenario and using what he had sen on shows like CSI for ideas.

Richie nodded. "I can do all of that."

"And we can assume wherever they are they were relatively close to Danny's apartment building, unless Wade moved." Daisy put in. Everyone looked at her. "Well...with a broken leg Jesse couldn't have gone very far, it would have been close by."

Richie snapped his fingers. "That's right! So we can get a map of abandoned buildings, test for powder or something to help determine which building, and we've got that sucker!"

* * *

Jesse moaned awake tossing and turning in the darkness of a new room of the same building. His leg throbbed and his side was sticky with blood where Wade had stuck him with a spike. His vision was blurry as he lifted his head slowly and tried to sit up and found he couldn't. His ankles were tied to a pipe in the wall at an angle that made it awkward for him to sit up, making his side burn. 

"I should have wrapped that rope around your god-forsaken little neck."

Jesse jerked at the voice and hit his head on the wall.

Wade was sitting in an overstuffed chair a few feet away from Jesse, sipping at a beer and staring at Jesse with unblinking eyes. There was a cold look on his face as he stared at his hostage.

Jesse whimpered and closed his eyes again, shutting out Wade's low chuckle and the dripping of water on his forehead drove him back into unconsciousness.

* * *

"I'VE GOT IT!" Richie jumped up from the computer console in Wayne Towers, running into the next room waving a picture and a sheet of test results. Virgil, Francis, and Batman were all sitting in the living room and they jumped at the genius' shouts. 

"You've got it?" Francis asked incredulously. "Just like that?" He snapped his fingers.

"Well it was a little more complicated than that." Richie waved his hand, unable to describe the process. "Lot's of codes...and building contracts, that sort of thing. Anyway there's a condemned building two blocks from Danny Taylor's apartment building that's due to be torn down in two weeks. Residents nearby reported to the police a commotion in the building the day of the attack but when police investigated, the door was still sealed shut. Since the building was built in the late 50's, I tested the letter for traces of concrete like the kind they used to build walls with then and it's a perfect match. A wall must have collapsed nearby where Wade wrote this and got it on his hand or something." Richie handed the paper of results over to Batman who read it slowly, matching things up in his mind.

"Here's the building here." Richie held up the second sheet and pointed at an ugly, rather small building where most of the windows were boarded amidst a block of similiarly aged buildings. He pointed to the left side of the building. "A person across the alley heard noises in the fifth floor on this side but didn't see anything. Police cast it off as squatters but I'd bet my life it's Wade."

Francis looked at the building. "Geez, I've passed by there dozens of times. I know exactly where it is."

"Great. You can lead us on a surprise attack tomorrow night." Batman said, putting the paper down on the coffee table.

Francis grinned. "Why not tonight?"

"Hold up, I wanna come." Richie intervened. His step was still faltering and he hadn't yet gotten used to the tightened area in his stomach.

Virgil clapped him on the shoulder apologetically. "Sorry bro, looks like you're sitting this one out. Tell you what...you can keep an eye on us from here. Be our eyes in the sky."

Richie sighed and rolled his eyes. "Fine but that means you all have to be outfitted with GPS trackers, shock-voxes, and I'll have to send Backpack out for surveillance so I can get video feed."

"What a burden. Couldn't do it without you Rich." Virgil smiled and turned to Francis. "You heard him, let's get started on outfitting you in some proper hero clothes."

Francis wrinkled his nose. "Hero clothes? Spare me, just throw in some black and I'll be fine."

"Sorry but the GPS is already installed in this..." Virgil pulled a t-shirt out of his bag and held it up so Francis could see. It was an exact replica of Virgil's own shirt, with the circled lightning bolt in the middle and blue capped sleeves. "I told you..._proper_ hero clothes." Virgil smirked.

Francis groaned. "Oh god."

* * *

_The next day_

"I think you look cute."

"Shut up." Francis was not happy, not happy about his clothes (hero shirt with GPS embedded in the middle of the lightning bolt and black jeans with shock-vox clipped to the side) and certainly not happy about the way Daisy, Sharon, and Adam were giggling at him.

"Batman should be here any minute." Virgil said, looking at his watch and struggling to hide his own grin.

"Is this your idea of product placement, are you trying to adevertise? Staring your own clothing line?" Francis asked bitterly, covering his shirt with a pillow and pouting unhappily at the room in general.

"No, but that's not a bad idea." Virgil mused over the idea and pulled on his mask, becoming Static in a flash. He held his shock-vox up to his mouth. "Gear, can you hear me okay?"

"Loud and clear V. Check back in a few minutes." Richie's voice came loudly through the machine. Static turned the volume down a notch and noticed Batman's sleek black jet descending towards the street.

"That's our cue. Bye." Virgil hugged his sister and father and kissed Daisy goodbye.

"Be careful. That includes you Smoky." Daisy waved goodbye and Sharon echoed the sentiment.

Francis grinned but didn't exchange goodbyes and left, striding quickly towards the jet and hopping in so Batman could close the hatch. He buckled his belt, pulling both straps across his chest and buckling it in the middle.

"There he goes. We follow thirty seconds behind, heading east." Batman pointed out Static rising into the dark sky on his disc.

"Let's go." Francis said quietly and Batman took off, leaving no traces of their ever being there.

* * *

Francis jumped out of the jet as it hovered a few feet over the surface of the roof. He landed on the balls of his feet and silently ran over to the far side of the roof, looking down at the fire escape. "Static? Where are you?" 

"He should be here by now." Batman said coming up behind the pyro.

"Here I am." Static rose over the side of the building looking sheepish. "Sorry, got the wrong building."

Francis rolled his eyes but Batman looked angry. "We're on assignment Static. I trained you better than to get _lost_ on an asisgnment."

Static huffed unpleasantly but didn't say anything, he had only gone one building over but he knew Batman was right. "So we go down the fire escape three floors and we're there. Remember, quiet." Batman said and jumped down onto the fire escape, his boots barely making a sound against the metal.

Francis and Static followed more carefully, watching their every step in case it made a noise. They got to the fifth floor without incident, but the window was already open, if only a little bit. Francis stuck his head through the window. "The floor's gone." He whispered.

"What?"

"Like, there's a part where the floor collapsed okay? I can see right through to the apartement the next level down." Francis pulled away and wiped his hands on his pants. "What is that?" He muttered aloud, looking at the stain on his palm.

"Dunno. Gear, a little help." Static said into the shock-vox.

Back at Wayne Towers, Richie was zooming in on the smudge on Francis' hand with the camera attached to Backpack, sitting on the next building over with a great view of the show. He typed some things into the computer quickly and responded. "That's blood, not a whole lot and mixed with the same dust that was on the letter. Chemical makeup says it's Jesse's."

Francis winced and rubbed his hand harder against his pants. "Damn."

"Well we know they _were_ here. The question is, are they still here?" Batman asked aloud, rubbing his chin thoughtfully.

"This must have been how Jesse got out." Static said, mentally measuring how much the window was opened and how small Jesse was. "Smart kid." He looked at Francis who looked away.

"Let's check the whole building." The red-head said quietly.

"Wade's not dumb, he would've moved on to another hiding spot." Static reasoned but both Batman was Francis were already wrenching the winow open more.

"You're right, he's not dumb...but he thinks we are. Haven't I explained this already?" Francis asked and ducked into the apartement, followed by Batman.

"Riiiight." Static climbed in after them.

The inside of the apartment was dark, and extremely dusty. This must have been where Wade had written the letter and where he had held Jesse hostage for days. The hole in the floor was large, but didn't extend to the whole room so the heroes easily avoided it and checked the rest of the rooms, just to be sure. The floor creaked omnisouly beneath their feet and they all stepped lightly.

When they were satsified with the empty apartment, they went out into the hall and fanned out to check the rest of the rooms on that floor. Some doors wouldn't open, others were void furniture, and one was a closet. Batman pointed down and Francis and Static nodded, heading for the stairs to journey down to the next floor.

They looked in rooms for hours, scouring every inch of every room on every floor until they were down on the main floor where couches still sat and where tenants had once sat. It was just one large room. Francis sank onto one of the couches and rubbed his face. "Is this the last floor?"

Static sat next to him. "I think so. Sorry."

Francis sat up and pointed at the wall, seemingly ignoring Static's apology. "What's that?"

There was a peel in the paint on one wall that went from almost the ceiling down to the floor. Batman walked over to it and gave the paint peel a good yank. The paint tore away and revealed a door, painted over many years ago. There was a small brass sign on the door that said 'Basement.' The door had clearly been opened recently, or else the peel wouldn't have been so blatantly obvious, and someone had done a poor job of trying to cover it back up.

"Down we go." Static said mildly as they headed down the flight of dark stairs. With every step the air grew cooler and the walls damper. There were scrabbling noises in the dark that could have been rats but no one was able to see. Then they heard a sound that every one of them recognized. Wade's voice floated out to them from a room at the bottom of the stairs, a single light illuminating the room, Wade, and Jesse who slumped against the wall and fainted as they stepped off the stairs.

They had found them.

**Author's Note:**

Hooray for another cliffie! You guys all know what comes next don't you? The big throwdown of course. Winner takes all, story soon to end. Oh well. If you want the next chapter up faster than this one, you have to PLEASE REVIEW! C'mon guys, I know you can do it. With a thousand five hundred and forty-four hits I should have more than fifty-two reviews.


	13. Chapter 13: Bringin' Down the House

Disclaimer: I hate disclaimers but they have to be said, I don't own Static Shock or any of its characters although I did invent Jesse, Taylor, and Devin

**Chapter Thirteen: Bringin' Down the House**

Francis paused, one foot hanging in mid-air and the other on the basement floor, staring at his battered, bruised, and broken son. Then he looked at Wade who hadn't noticed their intrusion. "You bastard." Francis hissed venomously and launched himself at Wade, knocking the much larger man off of his chair and to the floor.

Wade grabbed Francis by the collar of his shirt and flung the pyro off of him, scrambling to his feet. "You…how?!" He howled in rage and confusion, staring at Static and Batman still standing at the foot of the stairs.

Francis pulled Jesse to him and held the small boy in his arms, supporting his limp head with his shoulder like he had done when Jesse was a baby.

"You're under arrest. Turn around, kneel, and keep your hands on your head if you want to do this the easy way." Static said forcefully, a fistful of electric energy pointed at Wade's chest. Batman had a boomerang aimed at the Bang Baby as well.

Wade laughed. "Yeah right hero. I don't know how you found me but there is now way in hell you're taking me anywhere…at least not until I do what I came to this hellhole of a city to do in the first place." Wade turned to Francis and smirked. "Ready to die?"

Francis looked up from the ropes around Jesse's ankles and returned the smirk. "You have no idea what I'm going to do to you."

Wade seemed unbothered by the obvious threat and started taking in several deep breaths and puffing out his chest. He was obviously preparing to do something but neither Batman or Static were about to let him have the advantage of first strike.

Batman threw his boomerang and it whistled past Wade's ear, spinning back around and hitting Wade in the head. The force of the blow knocked Wade forward and Static jumped forward, delivering a taser punch to the side of Wade's head. Wade flew sideways into the wall, dust rained down from the ceiling onto the fallen metahuman.

But Wade didn't stay down for long, he shot dozens of pointy spikes from the palms of his hands towards Static and he jumped out of the way, taking refuge in the stairwell with Batman. Wade turned back to Francis to find that he had moved. He was at the stairs, holding Jesse in his arms and glaring at Wade with fire in his eyes.

"Take Jesse." He pushed the boy into Static's arms and jumped down off the bottom step, dropping to the floor to avoid a particularly long spike and charged forward, gathering fire in his fist. He ducked another spike and dug his flame-filled fist into Wade's stomach.

Wade cried out in anger and pain and shot his arm forward, catching Francis under the chin and knocking him straight up into the air. A spike shot towards him and cut his leg but Francis swerved in the air and avoided having it go right through him. He landed and rolled to the side, flames engulfing his entire body.

Batman came into the fray next, dodging spikes and opening up opportunities for Francis and Static to hit Wade when his guard was down. Jesse lay immobile on the stairs, well out of harm's way.

Wade caught Static by the cape and threw him into a wall. Static crumpled and rubbed the back of head, shaking himself to clear his vision and wipe dust off of himself.

Francis jumped at Wade and grabbed hold of his arm. Wade shot spikes out of his arm to impale Francis but that was just what the pyro was expecting. As the nubs on Wade's arms sharpened and shot out, Francis pulled all of the fire around him into his hand, and placed it on Wade's arm, pushing all of the heat into the open cracks in him.

Wade screamed and the spikes dwindled and fell back into his arm in an attempt to close off the opening but the fire expanded and made the cracks wider. Francis poured even more flame into the meta human's body.

Wade started to smolder, smoke rising out of his nose and ears in a comic like way. Francis was smoking too, but he was smirking and refused to let go of his prey, even when Wade staggered backwards and rammed Francis into the wall in an attempt to dislodge him.

Batman and Static stood well out of the way, afraid that if they attacked Wade now the touch of his skin might burn them.

Wade brought one massive fist up and crashed it down onto the top of Francis' head. Finally Francis let go and fell to his knees, seeing stars and darkness at the edge f his vision.

Wade grabbed him by the throat and shot a spike into his stomach. Francis gasped and his vision cleared as pain filled him. Batman sprung forward and kicked Wade's arm and he reflexively let go of Francis. The pyro slid off the end of the spike and to the ground, gathering his senses in time to roll away from another attack.

Static was at his side in an instant but Francis brushed him off, holding one hand to his bleeding stomach. It wasn't so bad and the adrenaline racing through him was dulling the pain for now.

Batman retreated backwards and the three of them stood in a line against Wade who turned and faced them with a murderous glare. His skin was cracked and smoking and blood dribbled from several places on his body.

"That was from Jesse." Francis grinned and wiped his hand on his pants, smearing the cloth with bright red blood.

Wade took a menacing step forward but the heroes could see how the movement pained him. The advantage was finally theirs.

* * *

Jesse stirred again, and found his position even more uncomfortable than it had been before. As he opened his eyes and sat up a little, he could see it was because he was sprawled across two steps. There was shouting and loud noises just feet from him and the noises hurt his head but he though he should look and see what was happeneing. 

He was very glad he did. It was his dad! And Static and Batman and they were all fighting Wade who looked hurt. His dad looked hurt too and Static was moving awkwardly but they were obviously winning. Jesse smiled slightly at the scene. Then a sprinkling of dust landed on his nose. Jesse sneezed loudly and Wade turned at the noise, smirking when he caught sight of Jesse lying there helplessly.

Francis saw this and his eyes widened in fear. "Don't..."

Wade lunged, his body protesting but he was anxious to have his advantage back. Francis charged forward and reached for Jesse but Wade got there first, he grabbed the boy by his broken leg and swung him around into his arms, crushing him against his chest. Francis pulled up inches short and frowned.

Jesse gasped as his leg was wrenched back and forth but the scream in his mouth died as the air was pressed out of him. There was an uncomfortable warmth radiating off of Wade's body and he squirmed instinctively.

Wade laughed. "Look what I've got Francis." He called out teasingly, squeezing Jesse tighter.

Jesse gasped again and looked at his father with pleading eyes, willing him to get him away from this monster. Francis took a step forward. "Don't you dare touch him." He snarled and stepped forward again.

Wade took a step back and found he was pressed against the wall. He formed a spike in the palm of his hand, wincing slightly as it tore through burned flesh to make its way out. He held it tauntingly near Jesse' face and cut his cheek, smiling as a drip of blood slithered down the boy's face.

"_DON'T TOUCH HIM_!" Francis screamed and the next thing he knew, Jesse was being ripped from his grip and he was being thrown bodily across the room. He hit the opposite wall with a force that shook the whole room, the walls trembled and the ceiling sagged dangerously.

Francis had Jesse in his arms once more and his body was engulfed in falmes, his eyes smoking and blazing red. Although Jesse was being held amongst white-hot flames, he could reach out a hand and touch one the flames on his father's body and they didn't burn him.

Wade sat up dazed and stared straight up at the ceiling. Suddenly, the ground shook and the ceiling trembled again. There was an earth-shattering crash and everyone looked up. Far above them, the top floor of the condemned building had collapsed, falling in on the floor beneath and ineveitably casuing that floor's collapse as well. The building was folding in on itself and they were all trapped in the basement.

Francis looked at Static who looked at Batman and they all bolted for the stairs at the same moment, Francis bringing up the rear with Jesse. The little boy's eyes were closed and he was holding his father's torn shirt as tightly as he could.

Wade raced after them and grabbed Francis' leg and tripped him halfway up the stairs. Jesse screamed and Francis turned around on his knees, scrambling backwards from Wade. The crashing grew louder and the chunks of plaster and clouds of dust were raining down on them from above.

"_Francis_!" Static shouted from several stairs up and made to double-back. Francis kicked out and his foot made connection with Wade's face. Wade looked stunned and fell backwards, tumbling down the stairs back to the basement.

Francis jumped back to his feet and swung Jesse over his shoulder in a fireman's lift, charging up the stairs as fast he could. Batman was the frst to burst through the basement door and was hit in the head with a piece of plaster as the floor above started to collapse. He shook the plaster off and ran at the boarded up doors leading outside. He hit the doors at full speed with his shoulder and they burst open, sending chips of wood in all directions. Static and Francis barreled past and jumped down the stairs and a cloud of dust followed them and then the building finally broke down completely, spilling out into the street and knocking pieces loose from nearby buildings.

The heroes lay in the street, each covered from head to toe in a fine white powder. Francis sat up slowly, still hugging Jesse to his chest and stared at the broken building with wide eyes, trying to catch his breath. Static crawled over to him and patted the pyro on the shoulder, laughing a little in disbelief. "I told we'd get him back." Static placed one gloved hand on Jesse's mop of red hair.

Jesse turned his face away from his father's shoulder and stared at the destruction. "Is he gone?" He asked quietly.

Francis looked at the rubble and nodded. Wade was nowhere to be found and even he couldn't have survived being crushed under tons of concrete. Slowly, neighbors and pedestrians began creeping out of their houses to examine the damage. Police sirens were heard a few blocks away. Batman was the first to stand.

"We should go now." He said and brought out the remote that would call his jet down from the skies.

Francis stood slowly and nodded. "Can we go to the hospital? His leg..." He trailed off, sickened at the sight of Jesse's broken leg.

Before any witnesses could ask them questions, the heroes flew off towards the hospital, leaving a ruined building and a dead murderer behind them.

* * *

"Oh my baby, my poor poor baby." Theresa cried quietly, rocking Jesse back and forth in her arms. Jesse smiled and pushed his face deeper into his mother's hospital gown and at the same time half-heartedly complaining. 

"Mooooom, too tight." He murmured but was as reluctant to let go as she was.

"I'm sorry baby." Theresa let go of Jesse and let him sit up on the hospital bed. His leg was newly encased in plaster and the cut in his side hadn't even required stitches. Francis' wound in the stomach, however, did. But he was being as stubborn as usual and refusing to leave Theresa's room, watching his wife cradle their son.

So Daisy came to Francis, locked the door, and went to work at stitching the pryo up herself. The only other people in the room was Virgil, although Robert and Sharon were waiting downstairs for news.

"Good as new Smoky." Daisy smiled and patted his knee. The teasing nickname had turned into a term of affection almost overnight and Francis smiled wearily back at the doctor.

"Thanks."

"Yes thank you so much Daisy. You've been wonderful." Theresa thanked Daisy, who had now patched up all three Stones.

"My pleasure. It's so good to finally meet you Jesse." Daisy ruffled Jesse's red locks and for the fifth time in an hour marveled at how much he and his father looked alike. "I'm so glad everything worked out for you guys."

"Mmm-hmm." Jesse mumbled with a yawn, burrowing deeper into his mother's arm and going limp with exhaustion.

Theresa smiled and rubbed his back through the regulation white hospital pajamas reassuringly and before long Jesse had dropped off into a sound slumber. "You both should be getting some sleep. You're being released tomorrow." Daisy said, half sternly at Theresa.

Francis snorted as if to say there was no chance of that.

"C'mon Francis. There are police standing guard outside but we both know Wade's gone for good. They recovered his body an hour ago." Virgil tried to coax Francis into getting some sleep.

"I'm not going anywhere." Francis said and climbed out of his chair and into Theresa's bed, sitting up beside her and resting his head on her shoulder. He grinned at Daisy and Virgil, who rolled their eyes.

"Fine. Just don't go anywhere until tomorrow morning. We'll be back then and we can go over everything." Virgil stood up, with his Static clothes in a bag slung over his shoulder. Daisy hooked her arm through his and prepared to leave.

"What's everything?" Francis wanted to know.

"Whether or not you want to go public with the whole Frankie Stone is Francis Stone is Hotstreak thing." Virgil replied with one hand on the doorknob.

"Oh." Francis sounded surprise, he had genuinely forgotten all about that.

"Wait, what about probation and all that? You promised." Theresa reminded Virgil. Francis looked between his wife and the hero with a confused look on his face.

Virgil smiled. "In the morning. But let's just say the reward for catching Wade in the first place should more than pay off whatever damages you owe the city. Plus services rendered to the city looks good. Hell, you might even get a medal."

Francis looked stunned, and then silliest looking grin spread across his face. "Brilliant. Just brilliant." He leaned backwards and closed his eyes with the smile still on his face.

"Get some sleep." Daisy ordered them and then she left with her boyfriend.

* * *

The next morning, Virgil knocked softly on the hospital door, and when he received no reply, opened it. He burst into giggles and put a hand over his mouth to stifle them. Behind him Richie, Sharon, Daisy, and Adam all looked similary tickled. 

Francis, Theresa, and Jesse were all still lying in the same bed. Francis had one leg hanging off the side of the bed and his head resting on Theresa's stomach, with one arm thrown protectively across both Theresa and Jesse's waists. Theresa had one arm wrapped around each of her boys and Jesse lay curled next to his mother, one hand holding onto her hospital gown and the other thrown above his head.

"Someone get a camera." Sharon whispered and everyone giggled again.

Francis cracked one eye open, saw them all standing there, and bolted straight up, coughing and running a hand through his hair embarassed. "Morning." He said slowly, blinking in the morning light.

"Good morning. Looks like you slept well." Daisy stepped past Virgil. "Let's have a look at those stitches shall we?"

Francis groaned and that woke Theresa up,who stirred and woke Jesse up. "Oh, hello." Theresa said with only the slightest hint of surprise. Jesse yawned, rubbed his eyes and waved sleepily with a grin.

"Good news. I talked with the chief of police and the mayor this morning, they're letting you off the hook." Richie blurted out, too excited to let the good news go un-said.

Francis jumped off the bed, making Daisy frown as she was examining him. "You serious?"

Virgil and Richie nodded at the same time, identical grins on their faces. "They said no medal though."

"YES!" Francis jumped into the air and pumped his fist, then raced back to the bed and kissed Theresa soundly on the lips.

"Euch." Jesse wrinkled his nose and shoves his dad's arm to get his attention. "Does that mean you're not going to jail?"

"I'm not going to jail." Francis confirmed and scooped Jesse out of the bed, careful of his leg, and hugged him, still hopping from foot to foot in excitement. Jesse hugged him around the neck, shouting with happiness.

Sharon looked around and huffed. "Where the hell is a camera when you need one?"

**Author's Note:**

Glee! Fluffy goodness, you can never have too much fluff. On another note, you can have too much Peeps...ugh. Soooooooo...there will be an epilogue and that should be it. Francis is free, Wade is dead (and yes dead, no conspiracy theories here) and everyone's happy. This was a fast update huh? Don't count on the epilogue coming anytime soon. PLEASE REVIEW AND LET ME KNOW IF YOU LIKED THE FIGHT/FLUFF!


	14. Chapter 14: Joy Comes in Bundles

Disclaimer: The end is near! I won't have to write disclaimers anymore.

**Chapter Fourteen: Joy Comes in Bundles**

Christmas time in Gotham was cold, windy, and snowy but inside Robert Hawkin's living room, it was warm and toasty. Sharon was in the kitchen mixing several mugs of hot chocolate and spiced cider and Virgil was sitting in the living room shaking presents with Devin and Taylor.

"Will you cut that out? You're not six." Daisy scolded him lightly from the couch where she was curled up happily, reading a magazine.

Virgil turned around on the carpet and glared at her, still holding a present to one ear. "Did you get me _socks_?" He brandished the package at her accusingly.

She shrugged and went back to her reading. "You need some. Look at your feet."

Virgil looked down. True, his big toe was sticking out of his sock but at least they were clean. "They had better be fuzzy socks." Virgil warned.

Taylor shook his arm. "I got my daddy a mug." She showed him the obviously self-wrapped present.

"He'll love it." He assured her and looked at his watch. "When were the others supposed to get here?"

"Right now." Adam said, opening the front door and shaking snow off of his jacket. Behind him Richie stepped into the warm living room, arm laden down with gifts.

"Awesome." Virgil stood up to hug his best friend. Taylor hurriedly hid the present for her father and she and Devin leaped at Adam before he could even get his jacket off.

"Don't knock anything over you three." Sharon warned, emerging from the kitchen with a tray of steaming drinks.

"And the family Stone?" Daisy asked, setting down her magazine to hug Richie.

"Bringing up the rear." Theresa called out from outside the doorway. "Francis! Jesse! Knock it off will you?" A snowball sailed into the room, followed by Jesse's distinctive laughter.

"You can't get your cast wet!" Theresa shouted again, stepping into the warmth. "Like a little kid, I swear." She muttered and then smiled at the people staring at her. "Hi everyone."

"Snowball fight?" Adam asked, pointing out the door and helping her with her jacket.

"More like snowball assault. They unleashed a barrage of snowballs at me from an alley." Theresa complained. Virgil snickered and Daisy hit his arm.

"I wanna play." Devin whined and reached for his jacket.

"No fair!" Francis' shouted from outside and Jesse came tearing into the, by this point, filled room. Well, as fast as tearing into anywhere is on crutches.

He was giggling and immediately hid behind his mother.

Francis stumbled into the room. The occupants of the house looked puzzled at his expression until he unzipped his jacket, and a cascade of snow fell out of his shirt. Francis jumped up and down a few times to loosen the snow sticking to the back of his neck and shivered. "Tricky little guy." He mumbled over everyone's laughter.

"What did you do?" Theresa asked Jesse.

"I don't even know where he got the bucket from." Francis said with a wry grin.

Jesse put a finger to his lips. "Shush. it's a secret." Francis laughed and reached out to take Jesse's coat for him before joining the rest of the room's occupants in sitting around the TV, watching some holiday special.

Francis settled on the floor with his back against the couch and Jesse climbed into his lap to watch the claymation. Over the past few weeks, Jesse and Francis had healed together until all that remained from the Wade incident was the cast on Jesse's leg, which was scheduled to be removed next week.

Sharon reached forward over the couch and handed both of them hot chocolate and a bag of marshmallows. Immediately, Devin and Taylor descended on Francis with their hands outstretched to get some marshmallows. "Easy, easy." Francis tried to calm them but the bag was devoured in seconds.

"Like a pack of wolves." Francis muttered and sipped at his marshmallowless drink.

"Sorry." Sharon apologized. "Should have kept those above their reaching distance.

Jesse laughed through a mouthful of sugar and swallowed, with some effort, wiping his mouth off with the sleeve of his sweater. "When do we eat?"

"It's ready now." Robert called out, sticking his head out of the kitchen.

"Great timing pops, Rudolph just ended." Virgil said and clicked off the TV, much to the annoyance of the children.

Francis lifted Jesse up and set him down facing the kitchen, sending him in the right direction at least.

"Why green by the way?" Daisy flicked his sweatshirt as she walked past the pyro.

Francis groaned. "I told her I'd look like Christmas tree, but she just doesn't listen to me." It was true, the red-hair with the green hoodie gave off a very Christmassy vibe but at least it matched his eyes.

"Can't you pick out your clothes on your own F?" Virgil asked with a teasing grin. "Or does your wife scare you that much?"

"Freakin' terrifies me. Let's eat." Francis clapped his hands together and trotted into the kitchen.

* * *

During dinner, the conversation drifted towards skateboarding. "Have the fans revolted since you went public with your real identity?" Richie asked. 

Francis shook his head. "Nah, apparently they all think it's the coolest thing ever. Attendance at demos is higher than ever."

"When does Danny get back on the circuit?" Virgil asked, still feeling a little guilty about the Danny Taylor's part in the Wade incident.

"Says he hasn't had enough of Mexico yet. Could be next week or it could be next year. I'm not really sure." Francis said jokingly and looked down at his plate. Then at his wife's plate beside him. "Did you take my roll?"

"Yes."

"Fine." Francis reached for another one, grumbling under his breath.

Have you told him yet?" Daisy whispered to Theresa, who was sitting on the other side of Mrs. Stone.

Theresa flushed. "Not yet. I'm waiting for the opportune moment to arrive."

"Well you'd better tell him soon. He'll notice sooner or later. Probably sooner by this point." Daisy said.

Francis reached for his glass and took a long drink. Theresa grinned. "Okay now. Hey Francis?"

Francis looked at her, still drinking, and rasied an eyebrow. "I'm pregnant."

Francis choked and dropped his glass, coughing and spilling pop across the table. Adam reached forward to clap Francis on the back a few times, stifling his laughter by biting his lip.

Daisy burst into giggles. "Wow, that was good timing."

After a few minutes of coughing and choking, Francis managed to breathe again. "What?" He asked with a hoarse voice.

"I'm pregnant." Theresa said again. "I'm in my third week…about." She looked at Daisy who nodded.

"Around three week yes." The doctor clarified. "When Theresa got hurt a few tests I ran revealed she was pregnant."

"B-but how?" Francis asked.

"Well Francis, when a mommy and a daddy..." Theresa started. The table burst into laughter

"Not that." Francis scowled. "I mean, we always use...y'know." Francis shot a look at Jesse who seemed perplexed by the conversation. Then Francis' expression lightened with realization. "The bathroom."

Theresa nodded. "I think that was it."

Francis smiled dreamily. "That was good."

"Children are listening." Virgil said abruptly.

Francis blushed and then smiled. "Great!" He jumped up and kissed Theresa.

"Am I going to get a brother!" Jesse jumped up in his chair.

"Or sister." Theresa said. "We don't know yet."

"Congratulations you two. How wonderful." Robert said with a huge grin.

* * *

**_Eight and half months later_**

Francis stuck his head out into the waiting room. Everyone there, Robert, Virgil, Richie, Sharon, Adam, Jesse, Taylor, and Devin stood up expectantly.

"It's a girl." Francis said with a dazed grin.

Jesse ran forward and tugged at his father's arm. "I wanna see! Let's go see!"

"Everyone, c'mon." Francis beckoned for them all to follow him. In Theresa's hospital room, the exhausted woman was sitting up in bed with a happy smile on her face a she stared down at her new daughter. There were wisps of red hair on her head and her eyes were closed tight.

"Awwwwww." Sharon cooed.

"What's her name?" Robert asked.

Francis looked at Theresa and shrugged. "I dunno."

"I kind of want to name her after my mother, Maria." Theresa said softly, careful not to wake the sleeping newborn.

Francis lifted Jesse up to sit by his mother's legs. The six-year-old looked down at his new sister with wide eyes. "She's so little!"

"Yes honey, but shhhhh. You'll wake her." Theresa said with a grin. "But I don't want it to be Maria per se. You know?"

Francis leaned against the far wall and watched his family on the bed. "What about a name that starts with M then?"

"Alright. Any suggestions?"

"Margaret?" Richie offered.

Marissa." Robert said.

"Meghan, Martha, Mary?" Sharon listed a few.

"Marcy, Mallory?" Adam suggested.

"Madeline?" Virgil said suddenly.

Francis looked at Theresa who looked down at the little bundle in her arms. "Madeline. Madeline Stone. Madeline Bennet Stone."

"Stop that." Francis scowled.

Theresa laughed slightly. "I like it. Madeline…"

"Maria." Francis reminded her.

Theresa nodded. "Madeline Maria Stone."

"Very pretty." Daisy said walking into the room with a chart. "Can I record that?"

"Go ahead." Theresa gazed own at her daughter again, and then looked up. "Francis. Come here."

Francis edged around the bed until he was on Theresa' side. "Yes milady?"

"Hold her." Theresa lifted Madeline up and handed her to her father. Francis looked ready to protest but then took his daughter and tried to hold her like Theresa had told him to long ago with Jesse.

Sharon looked around and sighed in frustration. "Where the hell is a camera?!"

"Got it." Adam waved the camera in front of his wife's face.

"I love you." She took it, lifted it to her face, and took a picture of the Stone family.

Virgil inched around to where Francis was standing. "Batman wanted me to ask you about joining the League. What do you think?"

Francis looked at his daughter, who cracked open her bright green eyes and reached one tiny, pudgy hand out of the blanket. Then he looked at his smiling son who was looking up at him expectantly. "I get to be the hero? Count me in."

THE END

**Author's Note:**

Aaaaaaaaannnnnnnndddddddd…it's done. Awwwww fluff! Gotta love that stuff. Anyhoo PLEASE REVIEW! ANYONE WHO READ THIS STORY AND LIKED IT SHOULD REVIEW RIGHT NOW TO LET ME KNOW HOW YOU LIKED THE ENDING. I ESPECIALLY LOVE MADDIE (AS I WILL BE CALLING HER) I THINK SHE'S ADORABLE. I'm done with caps now, sorry. There won't be a sequel, just to let any hopefuls know. Bye!

FHGVZEhyde


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